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Zhuang Pinghui

Guo Rui

Chinese authorities confirmed on Saturday night that all 132 passengers and crew from China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735 were killed when their aircraft crashed in southern China.
The announcement from the search and rescue command centre in Wuzhou, near the crash site, was followed by a moment of silence for the dead, state news agency Xinhua reported.
The confirmation came as investigators said an electronic device installed near the second “black box” of the aircraft had been recovered, but the data recorder itself has not been found.
Zhu Tao, head of the aviation safety office of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, said searchers had found the emergency locator transmitter, a device that sends a continuous radio signal in the event of a crash.
But wet weather at the site continued to impair recovery efforts.
“The rescue and research work was challenged because the impact of the crash and rain increased the risk of hazards [at the site]. We need to refine our digging plan,” Zhu said.
China Eastern crash: the ring of officialdom around victims’ families
China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735 crashed in a mountainous forest in Teng county, near the city of Wuzhou in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region en route to Guangzhou on Monday afternoon.
Civil affairs authorities had carefully preserved the recovered remains and belongings of the victims and teams were offering counselling to the families.
Zhu said that by midday Saturday, 478 family members of 74 victims had visited the crash site.
Among the relatives in Wuzhou was the family of 18-year-old Zhang Xu.
The family chanted sutras at a temple and prayed for the young man to be reborn.
“May all those victims free from pain, remove their fears, and reach bliss early,” his uncle said.




State broadcaster CCTV reported that large amounts of debris were found at the crash site on Saturday and the direct point of impact of the aircraft extended 20 metres beneath the surface.
Officials found the crashed plane’s engine gearbox and remnants of the plane’s main landing gear in the core search and rescue area.
Zheng Xi, the commander in chief of the Guangxi Fire Rescue Corps, said 66 samples from the wreckage had been sent to laboratories for analysis and of the 41 pieces tested so far, none showed signs of common organic or inorganic explosives.
The first black box, the cockpit voice recorder, was also sent to Beijing for analysis after it was recovered on Wednesday.
But the search continues for the flight data recorder, a device that takes readings on dozens of parameters several times per second.
Mao Yanfeng, director of the CAAC’s accident investigation centre, said on Friday that it was uncertain when the data from the first black box would be downloaded and initially analysed.




Zhang Qihuai, a researcher with China University of Political Science and Law’s Centre for Aviation and Space Law, said each aircraft crash investigation was different and difficult, complicated by the location, position, time, state and cause of each incident and this one was no different.
“[The investigation of] this accident is extremely difficult,” Zhang said.
“If the video circulating on the internet is true, the attitude of the plane hitting the ground was so extreme that it is hard to say if the black boxes could have withstood the impact.”
He said aircraft manufacturers, sellers and operators, as well as civil aviation authorities and governments, would contribute to the investigation.
They would work together to accurately and objectively recreate the circumstances of the crash, using data from the black boxes, the wreckage and other evidence at the scene.
“It is not easy to say how long the final report will take – there are too many factors to take into account,” Zhang said.
“It will take a long time, months to years maybe.
“There will be many reports such as initial, interim and final.”




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China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735 crash

China Eastern Airlines crash: all 132 people on board declared dead

A rescuer tries to free a shoe stuck in the mud at the core site of a plane crash in Teng county in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Friday. Photo: Xinhua

China Eastern flight MU5735: suspected debris found 10km from crash site, search area widened

Rescuers search the crash site in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. Photo: Xinhua

A 3D rendering by FlightRadar24 of the final moments of China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735, suggesting the plane recovered from an initial dive, before going into a second that sent it crashing into the ground. Graphic: FlightRadar24

A China Eastern flight takes off from Baiyun Airport in Guangzhou, in Guangdong province. Photo: AP

China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735: experts in delicate data retrieval effort, search for second black box

Search and rescue workers carry boxes believed to contain belongings of people on board the crashed China Eastern flight in Teng county in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region on Thursday. Photo: Xinhua via AP

One of the two black boxes of the crashed plane is recovered in Teng county, south China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, on Wednesday. Photo: Xinhua

Search and rescue workers carry boxes believed to contain MU5735 passengers’ belongings at crash site in Tengxian County on Thursday, March 24, 2022. Photo: Xinhua via AP

Boeing 737 MAX still key to restoring confidence in China as US aerospace giant faces ‘challenging times’

Boeing’s 737 MAX has been grounded in China since 2019 after 346 people died in two fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia. Photo: Reuters

China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735, which crashed in the Guangxi autonomous region on Monday, was a Boeing 737-800, which is an older version of the 737 MAX. Photo: Reuters

China Eastern MU5735 crash: investigators start black box analysis but warn it is too soon to say if it has been damaged

Rescuers on their way to search for the remaining black box in the area around the crash site in southern China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. The cockpit voice recorder has been recovered. Photo: Xinhua 

Zhu Tao (left) and Zheng Xi arrive for a press briefing in Wuzhou. Photo: AFP 

China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735: intense emotion as relatives finally allowed near crash site

People gather at the entrance of Lu village near the site where a China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 plane flying from Kunming to Guangzhou crashed, in Wuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region on Monday. Photo: Xinhua

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Rain is increasing hazards at the wreckage site and some plans need to be revised, air safety official says
Samples of the ruins tested so far show no signs of explosives, fire rescue chief says



Rain is increasing hazards at the wreckage site and some plans need to be revised, air safety official says.


Plane crashes and aviation accidents

Safety in China

China Eastern Airlines

Aviation