(Source: Google Images – www.financialexpress.com

Closure will be coming soon for the families of AirAsia’s QZ8501 flight as news pours in about the discovery of the jet’s black box.

AirAsia’s QZ8501 flight carrying 162 people vanished into the Java Sea on December 28th. It has been confirmed that after finding the tail of the plane, a team of navy divers have recovered the flight’s black box on Sunday, January 11th. The black box is a record of the flight that could unlock the mystery surrounding the crash. The black box will include the final moments before the plane’s demise.

The flight was inbound from Indonesia to Singapore; amidst the increase of bad weather, the flight’s pilot decided to go off course from the planned route. A little over two hours after departure, connection between the jet and its base was cut and 162 passengers had vanished. A few days later, it was presumed that all 162 people onboard the flight had died, whether it was hours or a day after the crash is yet to be confirmed. Although a majority of bodies have yet to be uncovered, a count of seven bodies have been found and identified, some still strapped up in their seat.

BBC News has reported that Supriyadi, a coordinator for Indonesia’s search and rescue agency, stated that based on initial analysis of the wreckage, the plane could have “exploded” upon hitting the water.

The many theories that have been reported cannot be proven until all evidence is gathered from the flight’s black box which many have predicted won’t come for weeks.

First step of the prediction process is to rid the black box of any water and sea life damage. The second step is investigating and gathering relevant information from the black box and sending it to analysts who will then create a final scenario as to how the plane crash occurred. From there, officials must decide whether to release it to the families first and media afterwards or release it all through the media.

The recovery of the black box and its step toward understanding how this jet crashed is a surprising revelation, considering the unsuccessful 10 month search of Malayasia Airlines’ MH370 jet which disappeared earlier in 2014 and to this date is still being searched for.