AirAsia crash search latest news: Both black boxes retrieved

JAKARTA —Indonesian divers pulled out the cockpit voice recorder from the sunken wreckage of an AirAsia jet Tuesday, which will help determine the cause of the crash that killed all 162 people aboard. Officials have stated that the plane could have exploded before impacting the water, but that theory is disputed.

Indonesia AirAsia's Flight QZ8501 lost contact with air traffic control in bad weather while flying from Indonesia's second-biggest city of Surabaya to Singapore.

The cockpit voice recorder, which retains the last two hours of conversation between the pilots and with air traffic controllers, was found close to where the flight data recorder was recovered from the bottom of the Java Sea on Monday.

"Today we have completed searching for the main things that we have been looking for," Rear Admiral Widodo, the commander of the navy's western fleet, told reporters after handing over the cockpit voice recorder to investigators.

"But the team will still try to find the body of the plane in case there are still bodies inside."

Together the black boxes, which are actually orange, contain a wealth of data that will be crucial for investigators piecing together the sequence of events that led to the Airbus A320-200 plunging into the sea.

The cockpit voice recorder is expected to be sent to the capital, Jakarta, for analysis.

Fransiskus Bambang Soelistyo, head of the National Search and Rescue Agency, believes that the plane exploded before hitting the water. That account is supported by indications that part of the plane disintegrated as well as accounts from nearby fisherman. However, some do not believe an explosion occurred.

"There is no data to support that kind of theory," said Santoso Sayogo, an investigator at the National Transportation Safety Committee.

Investigators may need a month or more to get a more complete reading of the data.

AirAsia Flight QZ 8501 crashed on Dec. 28. So far 48 bodies have been found.