AirAsia QZ8501: Search for victims more important than black box, says Indonesia

An Indonesian diver and an official examine wreckage from Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ8501 after it was lifted into the Crest Onyx ship at sea on Jan 10, 2015. - AFP

JAKARTA: Transport Minister Ignasius Jonan stressed that recovering the victims of Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ8501 was more important than searching for the aircraft’s black box. 

“The ongoing search for the aircraft’s black box is not the primary thing, but the retrieval of its passengers is more important,” he said at the crisis centre at the East Java Police Headquarters in Surabaya on Saturday.