JAKARTA, 22 January, 2021, (TON): Auto throttle expected to be responsible for Sriwijaya Air crash investigators claim.

Sixty two people were travelling on the plane when it plunged into the sea minutes after taking off from Jakarta on 9th January, 2021.

According to the officials, a few days before the crash, a problem with the Boeing 737's autothrottle that controls the engine power of an aircraft had been reported.

The throttle can also be manually handled and it remains unclear whether this became the cause of crash.

"There was a report of malfunction on the autothrottle a couple of days before to the technician in the maintenance log, but we do not know what kind of problem," National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) investigator Nurcayho Utomo told the media.

"If we find the CVR (cockpit voice recorder) we can hear the discussion between the pilots, what they talked about and we will know what the problem is."

From the debris in the Java Sea only the aircraft’s flight data recorder has been recovered, while divers are still on to find the cockpit voice recorder.

In line with the international standards, a preliminary report is expected within 30 days of the crash.

The airline itself said it would not comment on the investigation before the official statement.