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Divers recover debris from the crashed Boeing 737-500
Photo: Achmad Ibrahim / AP
Just a few minutes after taking off from the Indonesian capital Jakarta, a Boeing 737-500 crashed into the sea off the island of Java in early January.
62 people were killed, some are still not identified.
Now the investigators may have come closer to the cause of the accident.
The throttle of the Sriwijaya Air machine would probably have blocked before it crashed into the sea shortly after take-off in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, said Nurcahyo Utomo of the National Transport Agency.
As reported by the AP news agency, pilots had previously complained of problems with the throttle.
Lever apparently remained active despite the autopilot
"Both throttle sticks had anomalies," he said at a press conference at which a preliminary report on the accident was presented.
"We're still trying to find out what exactly happened because 13 components are connected to the throttle." A final report should be available early next year.
As AP reports, one of the levers apparently caused reduced power in the left engine, even though the autopilot was activated.
Due to the uneven performance, the plane finally got into a lopsided position and crashed.
According to Nurcahyo, the voice recorder from the cockpit could bring more clarity.
But he has still not been found.
The flight data recorder, however, was discovered a few days after the crash.
Icon: The mirror
fek / dpa / AP
