Flight recorders found in crashed Sukhoi

Jakarta, May 14 (IANS) Flight recorders of the Russian Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ-100) that crashed in Indonesia killing 45 people, were found Sunday in a deep gorge but will be brought out Monday, officials said.

On Sunday, the Indonesian special police force also found the engines and the running gear of the SSJ-100, RIA Novosti reported citing Indonesian web portal Detik.com.

"The flight data recorders have been found today (Sunday) but we cannot raise them to the surface yet," said Tatang Kurniadi, head of the National Transport Safety Committee.

The jet disappeared from radar screens during a demonstration flight about 20 minutes after takeoff and crashed into a steep mountainside at Mount Salak outside Jakarta. All the people onboard including eight Russians, one American, one French, two Italians and 33 Indonesians died.

Police found the flight data recorders on the fifth day of the rescue and search effort at a depth of 500 metres, local rescue coordinator Soma Suparsa told VIVAnews.

The Russian embassy in Indonesia confirmed that the flight recorders had been found.

"We confirm that, according to the chief of the Indonesian rescue team, the site where the flight recorders could be lying has been discovered," said Dmitry Solodov, the press attache of the embassy.

Special Troops Major S. Tambunan told Detik.com that the running gear and the engines were intact while the fuselage would require a special recovery effort.

"The running gear, the left-side and the right-side engines are undamaged, the fuselage is possibly trapped under 10 cubic metres of land slides," he said.

Rescuers also found several bodies near the jet wreckage, presumably crewmembers. All of them were brought out, Tambunan said.

The Indonesian rescue operation headquarters told RIA Novosti the rescuers had found the burnt documents of a Russian crewmember from the crash site and delivered them to Jakarta.

The aircraft had experienced no technical problems ahead of the flight.