Confusion over China plane crash black box
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China’s official Xinhua news agency has contradicted earlier reports signalling the discovery of the second black box from the downed China Eastern Airlines jet that plunged into a mountainside with 132 people on board.
Xinhua reported the box had not yet been recovered, despite CAAC News – a publication managed by the country’s aviation regulator – earlier reporting the flight data recorder had been found.
It later deleted the news post from its official social media platforms.
The cockpit voice recorder from the plane, which plunged into a mountainside with 132 people on board, was recovered on Thursday.
Debris from the jetliner including engine blades, horizontal tail stabilisers and other wing remnants was concentrated within 30 metres of the main impact point, which was 20 metres deep.
One 1.3 metre-long fragment suspected to be from the plane was found about 10km away, prompting a significant expansion of the search area, officials told a news briefing.
No survivors have been found, and experts have said it was all but impossible anyone could survive such an impact.
Flight MU5735 was en route from the southwestern city of Kunming to Guangzhou on the coast when the plane suddenly plunged from cruising altitude at about the time when it should have started its descent to its destination.
According to tracking website FlightRadar24, the plane briefly appeared to pull out of its nosedive, before plunging again into a heavily forested slope in the mountainous Guangxi region.
Authorities said the pilots did not respond to repeated calls from air traffic controllers during the rapid descent.
The flight’s captain had 6709 hours flying experience, while the first and second officers had 31,769 hours and 556 hours respectively, a China Eastern official said on Wednesday.
Reuters
