The flight data and cockpit voice recorders of the South Korean airliner that crashed last month stopped recording four minutes before the crash, the country’s transport ministry said.
179 people died in the Jeju Air flight crash, the deadliest air crash on the Korean mainland. Only two members of the cabin crew survived.
Investigators hoped the data on the recorders would provide insight into the key moments leading up to the tragedy.
The ministry said it would analyze what caused the “black boxes” to stop recording.
The recorders were originally inspected in South Korea, the ministry said.
When the data were found to be missing, they were flown to the US and analyzed by US safety regulators.
The plane was traveling from Bangkok on December 29 when it crash-landed at Muan International Airport, skidded off a wall at the end of the runway and burst into flames.
Sim Jae-dong, a former accident investigator at the Transport Ministry, told Reuters news agency that the loss of crucial last-minute data was surprising and suggested that all power, including backup, could have been cut.
Many questions remain unanswered. Investigators are looking into the role. A bird strike Or weather conditions may have played a role.
They have also focused on why the landing gear of the Boeing 737-800 was not down when it hit the runway.