The fifth day of the search operation for the Indonesia Air Transport ATR 42-500 aircraft resulted in the discovery of the aircraft's black box in the form of a Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and a Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR), Wednesday (21/1/2026). The object was found at around 11.00 WITA.
The device has been secured and being handed over to the National Transportation Safety Committee for further investigation.
The process of evacuating the black box of PK-THT, from the discovery site in a hilly ravine to the SAR post in Tompobuli Village, Pangkep Regency, reportedly took about three hours.
"We still use the word suspected black box because the authority of the KNKT is the domain of the KNKT," said Assistant to the Operations of Kodam XIV Hasanuddin Colonel Inf Dody Triyo Hadi at the Joint SAR Operations Post, Tompobulu Village, Balocci District, Pangkep, Wednesday (21/1/2026).
He said the black box was found at 11.00 WITA at a depth of about 150 meters from the top of Mount Bulusaraung. The black box was found to be intact on the tail of the plane and had been removed from its mount.
"Alhamdulillah, now we can get rid of the seat, and the process of going down to our post in Tompobulu Village," he said.
"After direct checking, the black box was still in its position in the tail piece of the plane and was successfully removed from its mount."
The day before, it had been identified visually, the existence of this suspected black box, but Timsus had not been able to go to the location due to very extreme terrain conditions.
"Last night we also had a meeting to analyze and finally form a Timsus consisting of Teaksi Cepat Tonasa, Sarnas and the Indonesian National Police," he said.
The Head of the Makassar Class A Search and Rescue Office as the SAR Mission Coordinator (SMC), Muhammad Arif Anwar, stated that the discovery of black boxes is a crucial part in the series of handling aircraft accidents.
Black box contains flight data recordings (flight data recorders) and cockpit voice recordings which are very important to uncover the cause of aircraft accidents.
The Joint SAR Team is still continuing the search and evacuation of other victims while still prioritizing the safety of all personnel.
The ATR 42-500 (Registration PK-THT, MSN 611) had crashed on January 17 near Mount Bulusaraung, South Sulawesi, en route to Makassar.
There were ten people on board (seven crew members and three passengers) from Yogyakarta. The there passengers from the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, who were on an aerial surveillance mission for the region's resources, along with the seven crew members.
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