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The crash of AirAsia flight QZ8501 was unlikely to have been due to terrorism, Indonesian investigators have declared in their first remarks since analysing the cockpit voice recorder.
Transport safety committee investigator Andreas Hananto told the BBC that there were also indications that the Airbus A320 encountered bad weather.
The aircraft is thought to have gone down on December 28 when it encountered difficulties as a result of an approaching storm.
All 162 people onboard the flight from Surabaya to Singapore were killed.
Two more bodies were recovered on Monday, bringing the total found so far to 53.
Hananto said investigators had listened to the entire two-hour recording, and found that there was “no threatening voice on board.”
The recording appeared to indicate that the pilot was too busy attempting to regain control of the aircraft to send a distress signal, he said.
Some of the parameters retrieved from the flight data recorder seemed to indicate that the aircraft had encountered bad weather.
More analysis was needed from the rest of the 1,200 parameters to determine the exact weather conditions and the impact the weather had on the plane’s engines, Hananto added.
Investigators have only transcribed half of the cockpit voice recording, which will require further analysis.
The authorities are expected to issue a preliminary report on the crash on January 28.