KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 22 — Transport Minister Anthony Loke said the aviation authorities will be sending the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) of the aircraft that crashed near Bandar Elmina in Shah Alam last Thursday to a laboratory in Florida for analysis.

Loke said that the lab in Singapore could not extract the information they needed from the CVR as it was heavily damaged.

"We’ve decided to send the CVR to a lab in Florida which is the lab of the manufacturer of the CVR so they can attempt to extract the information from it.

"Our team in Singapore told us they’re unable to retrieve the voice recordings hence to not waste time we’re sending it there for a faster response,” Loke said during a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today.

"For now the memory card in the CVR is intact though the entire unit is badly damaged,” he added.

Loke said he hoped to get a preliminary report within one month of them receiving the CVR and said a detailed analysis will take months.

The Malaysian Air Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is facing difficulties in retrieving data from the charred CVR, whose memory puck was still intact.

Loke said a report on the preliminary investigation into the crash, prepared by AAIB with the help of the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), would be released within a month.

The Beechcraft 390 Premier 1 aircraft flying from Langkawi to Subang crashed onto the Guthrie Highway at about 2.50pm on August 17, killing all eight people onboard, including Pahang state executive councillor Datuk Seri Johari Harun.

An e-hailing driver and a p-hailing rider on the highway were also killed.