An initial analysis of cockpit voice recordings has found no
evidence that terrorism, hijacking or another crime caused the crash last month
of Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501, investigators said Tuesday.
“There are no indications of terrorism,” said Nurcahyo Utomo, an investigator
from Indonesia’s National Transport Safety Committee. “There were no voices of
other people apart from those of the pilots.
The transport safety committee has been analyzing the
aircraft’s "black box" recorders, which search crews pulled last week
from the floor of the Java Sea. The aircraft crashed Dec. 28 with 162
passengers and crew members, all of whom are presumed dead.
Investigators did not detail what was said in the aircraft’s
final moments but said that a full transcript of the cockpit recordings was not
yet completed.
“The rule is that if we find indications of a crime, we will
hand over the investigation to the police,” Nurcahyo said.
The committee’s lab in Jakarta is also examining the flight
data recorder, which collects information on the aircraft’s electronic systems
during a flight.
Investigators said a preliminary report into the crash would
be released Jan. 28. Weather is believed to have played a role but analysts
were also looking into whether a mechanical or other failure caused the
6-year-old Airbus A320 to go down after it encountered storm clouds midway
through a two-hour flight from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore.
Pathoni is a special correspondent. Times staff writer Shashank
Bengali contributed to this report from Mumbai, India.
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