CRI听力:AirAsia QZ8501: 'Pings' Detected from Black Box

Indonesian authorities are warning it may still take a while to locate the flight-data recorders from the AirAsia jet at the bottom of the Java Sea.

Signal thought to be from the so-called black box have been detected.

Operations are underway to try to raise the tail section of the plane where the flight-data recorders are located.

However, Indonesian authorities are suggesting the black box might not be connected to the section of the plane's tail they've discovered.

Indonesian Rescue Operations Chief Bambang Soelistyo.

"As far as I know humans cannot hear the pings emitted by the black box. What can detect the ping is a piece of equipment called the pinger locator beacon. If we could physically hear it we would have found it by now. Only equipment not humans can hear that. We have used it from two to three days ago but the coverage is limited. It is a wide area, so it will take time."

Locating the black box is critical if investigators are to determine exactly what led to the crash.

Initial suggestions are the plane may have stalled in mid-air while attempting to avoid a weather system.

The AirAsia flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore disappeared from radar on December 28th with 162 people on board.

So far 48 bodies have been recovered.