Black Box Found from Crashed Indonesia ATR Plane

January 22, 2026 | 11:37 am

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The search team has found the black box of the Indonesia Air Transport (IAT) ATR 42-500 aircraft, which lost contact and crashed on Saturday, January 17, 2026.

Assistant Operations of Military Regional Command XIV/Hasanuddin, Colonel Infantry Dody Triyo Hadi, stated that the discovery of the black box had been confirmed through visual documentation by the team on the ground. "Based on the photos and videos sent to the command post, the object is believed to be the black box of the ATR 42-500 aircraft," said Dody, when contacted on Wednesday, January 21, 2026.

According to Dody, the team found the black box around 11:00 local time, still attached to a fragment of the aircraft's tail. The team then removed the device from the wreckage before it was evacuated.

Upon confirmation at the command post, information regarding the discovery was relayed to the National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT). Currently, the black box is being transported to the Main Rescue Post at the Basarnas Makassar Office for official handover to the KNKT.

The IAT ATR 42-500 aircraft, registration PK-THT, previously lost contact during its landing approach at Sultan Hasanuddin Airport. To date, authorities are continuing their search and data collection efforts to uncover the cause of the incident.

The KNKT will conduct an identification and analysis of the black box to determine the chronology and technical factors suspected of contributing to the aircraft's loss of contact.

KNKT Chairperson Soerjanto Tjahjono stated that on the fourth day after the incident, the institution remains in the data collection phase. In this ATR accident case, he noted, progress depends significantly on whether the black box of the Indonesia Air Transport aircraft is recovered. "[We're] finding the black box first," he said at the DPR/MPR complex in Jakarta on Tuesday, January 20, 2026.

Prior to the incident, the aircraft was crewed by seven personnel, including Captain Andy Dahananto as the pilot, Farhan Gunawan as the copilot, Hariadi as the flight operations officer, and two aircraft technicians, Restu Adi P and Dwi Murdiono. Cabin service was provided by two crew members, Florencia Lolita and Esther Aprilita S.

The three passengers were employees of the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) on duty: Ferry Irawan, a Vessel Monitoring Analyst; Deden Mulyana, a State Property Manager; and Yoga Noval, an Aerial Photo Operator.

To date, the SAR team has recovered two victims from the ATR 42-500 aircraft, one male and one female.

Novali Panji Nugroho contributed to this report.

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