The spokesman for the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), Zhu Tao, confirmed on Tuesday that no survivors were found from the crash of the Boeing 737, of the China Eastern Airlines company, in the south of the Asian giant, while this Wednesday the discovery of a black box of the aircraft was reported.
Zhu told a news conference that no survivors of the 123 passengers on board had been found so far. None of the passengers were foreigners and nine members of the crew also traveled with them.
The entity also specified that the aircraft responded to flight number MU5735, left Changshui International Airport in Kunming, Yunnan province, and entered the canton control zone, with a cruising altitude of 8.9 kilometers.
“At 2:20 p.m., the control officer observed that the aircraft’s altitude decreased sharply, so he immediately called the crew several times, but received no response, and at 2:23 p.m. the aircraft’s radar signal disappeared,” Zhu explained to international media.
According to records, the plane had made 8,986 departures prior to the accident, with a total flight time of 18,239 hours. Currently, search and rescue work continues at the accident site, but no victims have been found.
Authorities said pilots did not respond to calls from air traffic control when the plane disappeared from radar screens, beginning its fall three minutes after last contact.
The air tracking site FlightRadar24 detailed that the plane lost almost 21,250 feet (6,477 meters) in just one minute before disappearing from radar screens. After a slight ascent, it submerged again, 4,625 feet (1,410 meters), to be 3,225 feet (983 meters) above the ground, before disappearing just after 02:22 local time.
As is usual in air accidents, the CAAC invited representatives from Boeing, the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), in addition to the manufacturer of CFM motors, to participate in the investigation.
All of the Asian giant’s 737-800s continue to operate normally in the Asian giant, but inspections are expected to be carried out on all aircraft in the coming days.
The China Eastern Boeing 737-800 was flying the Kunming-Guangzhou route when it crashed in the afternoon of March 21 near Wuzhou, south China’s Guangxi Province.
This Wednesday it was reported at a press conference that rescuers found one of the black boxes of the Boeing 737, according to the local media CGTN.
