Updated January 14, 2019 16:47:47

Photo: Indonesia's transport safety committee has found the cockpit voice recorder. (AP: Tatan Syuflana)

The cockpit voice recorder of a Lion Air jet that crashed into the Java Sea off Indonesia in October killing everyone aboard has been found, providing a possible boost to investigations.

Ridwan Djamaluddin, a deputy maritime minister, said the agency investigating the crash that killed 189 people, the National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC), had informed the ministry about the discovery.

Human remains were also discovered at the seabed location, Mr Djamaluddin said.

The two-month-old Boeing 737 MAX 8 jet plunged into the Java Sea just minutes after taking off from Jakarta on October 29.

No-one survived.

If the voice recorder is undamaged, it could provide valuable additional information to investigators.

It is one of the two so-called black boxes.

The other, the cockpit data recorder was recovered within days and showed the jet's airspeed indicator had malfunctioned on its last four flights.

After it was found and analysed, head of the NTSC Soerjanto Tjahjono said the information it provided was consistent with reports the plane's speed and altitude were erratic.

Relatives of those who had died questioned why the plane had been cleared to fly after suffering problems on its Bali to Jakarta flight on October 28 that included a rapid descent after take-off that terrified passengers.

The sadness in the Lion Air crash is that no-one would really be shocked by it — the Indonesian aviation sector has a bad reputation for good reason, writes former Indonesian correspondent Samantha Hawley.

In December, up to eight US law firms jostled to represent the relatives of victims in separate lawsuits against Boeing, alleging the aircraft maker is to blame for defects in the plane that caused the crash.

Lawyer Manuel von Ribbeck claimed that relatives of at least 25 Lion Air victims have signed on to a potential $US100 million ($138 million) class action against the company.

The Lion Air crash was the worst airline disaster in Indonesia since 1997, when 234 people died on a Garuda flight near Medan.

In December 2014, an AirAsia flight from Surabaya to Singapore plunged into the sea, killing all 162 on board.

Lion Air is one of Indonesia's youngest airlines but has grown rapidly, flying to dozens of domestic and international destinations.

It has been expanding aggressively in Southeast Asia, a fast-growing region of more than 600 million people.

ABC/Wires

Topics: air-transport, air-and-space, disasters-and-accidents, accidents, indonesia

First posted January 14, 2019 16:45:26