The flight data and voice recorders in the cockpit of the South Korean passenger plane that crashed last month stopped recording four minutes before the crash, the country’s transport ministry said.
The Jeju Air plane crash killed 179 people, making it the deadliest air crash on Korean soil. Two cabin crew members were the only survivors.
Investigators hoped the data on the recorders would provide insight into the key moments before the tragedy.
The ministry said it will analyze what caused the “black boxes” to stop recording.
The recorders were initially inspected in South Korea, the ministry said.
When the data was found to be missing, it was taken to the US and analyzed by US security regulators.
On December 29, the plane was flying from Bangkok when it crash-landed at Muan International Airport and slid into the wall at the end of the runway and caught fire.
Sim Jai-dong, a former accident investigator at the transport ministry, told the Reuters news agency that the loss of data from the crucial final minutes was surprising and suggested that all power, including backup, could have been cut.
Many questions remain unanswered. Investigators have investigated the role that bird strike or maybe the weather played a role.
They also focused on why the Boeing 737-800 did not have its landing gear down when it hit the runway.
