Search teams at the site of the fatal Gol Boeing 737-800 crash in the Amazon jungle are still searching for part of the cockpit voice recorder (CVR), after discovering that a data-storage unit was missing.

Brazil’s defence ministry had earlier said that both the cockpit-voice and flight-data recorders from the aircraft had been recovered.

But the Brazilian civil aviation administration ANAC says: “The two recorders of data and voice…are already in the possession of the commission of inquiry, but have been heavily damaged.”

It says that only part of the CVR has been located, and that a crucial data-storage component still needs to be found.

“This unit is essential for the analysis and searches for it are continuing,” says ANAC.

Gol flight 1907 came down on 29 September, apparently after a mid-air collision with a corporate Embraer Legacy jet, with the loss of all 155 occupants.

Brazilian authorities have formally established an inquiry panel to investigate the accident. The panel, with six permanent members, is being led by Rufino Antônio da Silva Ferreira, and will have 90 days to produce an initial report on the accident.

Source: FlightGlobal.com