JAKARTA, 28 August 2007 - Salvage crews have retrieved the flight data and cockpit voice recorders from an Indonesian aircraft that crashed in almost 9 months ago. The recorders will now be sent to the United States to determine the cause of the accident. fforts to recover the so-called "black boxes" have been delayed for months due to disagreements over who should pay.

The Adam Air Boeing 737 plunged into the ocean off the island of Sulawesi on January 1, killing all 102 people on board. Tatang Kurniadi, chairman of Indonesia's National Transportation Safety said the recorders were found by a vessel operated by the US company Phoenix International scouring the waters off Sulawesi island. "They have retrieved two black boxes," he said. "God willing, they are still readable."

Kurniadi said both recorders had been discovered close to each other some 2,000 metres down on the sea bed. He declined to comment when asked who was paying the estimated $3m bill for recovering the recorders. The devices will be sent to the National Transportation Safety Board in the US for analysis.

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