SEOUL, December 30. /TASS/. South Korean specialists will inspect the extent of damage to the black box found in the Jeju Air plane after the plane crash on December 29, senior Transport Ministry official Joo Jong Wan said.
"The black boxes were transported to Gimpo Airport around 10 a.m. today. Experts will assess the extent of the damage and the possibility of data retrieval," the official said.
Earlier reports indicated that one of the two black boxes - the flight data recorder - had sustained damage by the time it was discovered. The second device, the cockpit voice recorder, was unharmed.
Damage to the recorder is expected to increase the time required to decipher the black boxes. South Korean experts estimate it will take about a month to decode the data. If both devices had been undamaged, the process would have taken approximately a week.
If South Korean experts encounter difficulties with decoding, the black boxes may be handed over to their US counterparts at the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
The accident claimed the lives of 179 of the 181 people on board, making it the deadliest airplane crash in South Korea’s history.
According to preliminary data, the crash was caused by a landing gear malfunction due to a collision with birds. The plane attempted to land but was forced to make an extra lap. Witnesses reported seeing flames coming from the airplane’s engine while it was still in the air. The crew attempted to land the plane on its fuselage, but the aircraft was unable to reduce speed and struck a building at the end of the runway, resulting in an explosion and fire.