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Search of Indonesian plane crash site ends

Yogyakarta - Experts analyse black boxes
Yogyakarta - Experts analyse black boxes

Investigators have finished the search for clues at the site of Wednesday's Indonesian plane crash as experts analysed the jet's black box recorders to find out what caused the disaster.

Separately, forensic experts have identified 16 of the 21 dead and are awaiting data from Australia to confirm the identity of five Australians listed as missing and also believed to have been killed.

Investigators said the cockpit voice recorder and data log from the Garuda Indonesia plane had been slightly damaged in the fire that engulfed the jet after it landed at speed in Yogyakarta, but they would still yield vital information about its last moments.

Experts in Australia received the recorders this morning.

New information suggested that the plane's front wheel snapped on landing, sending it careering past the end of the runway, over a road and into a rice paddy.

Both engines were ripped off and the right wing broke open during the crash.