TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Air Force Command announced on Thursday (March 24) that it has located the black box and wreckage of the Mirage 2000 fighter jet that crashed off the coast earlier this month.

The command confirmed it had received a signal from the black box but said that due to poor weather conditions in recent days, it was unable to retrieve it, CNA reported. However, it was determined that the fuselage was still intact, as it had been drifting in ocean currents.

The Mirage 2000 was conducting a routine training mission off the coast of Taitung on March 14 when a mechanical failure occurred, forcing the pilot, Huang Chung-kai (黃重凱) to eject and parachute to safety.

Wang Tzu-li (王自立), the head of the Air Force Command, said both the black box and fuselage will be salvaged immediately once the weather improves.

He said that because of the strong ocean currents off the east coast, the wreckage will drift further away as more time passes, per CNA. Thus, it is necessary to retrieve it before it falls into an underwater trench, which would increase the difficulty of getting it back.

The downed fighter is carrying two short-range Magic missiles and two medium-range MICA missiles, Wang said, which will not be a problem as long as the remnants of the aircraft do not fall into a trench or bump into something while adrift.