No survivors have been found in the China Eastern Airlines plane crash on Monday as China’s Civil Aviation Administration said investigations into the cause of the crash were extremely difficult due to the severe damage to the aircraft.
In a press conference on Tuesday, Zhu Tao, director of aviation safety at the administration, said their probe into the crash of flight MU5735 is facing “a very high” level of difficulty as the aircraft was badly damaged after crashing into a hill in Wuzhou, Guangxi.
“We do not have a clear assessment of the cause of the incident based on the information at hand,” Zhu said, as he added that the investigation would be moving towards the direction of the maintenance of the Boeing 737 aircraft as well as the weather condition at the time.
Zhu said the investigation team will be “putting their best foot forward” in gathering evidence and will focus on finding the flight recorder of the aircraft -- no black box is found yet for two days.
Sun Shiying, chairman of China Eastern Airlines Yunnan branch, said the airline will comprehensively investigate the hidden safety danger to ensure aviation safety, adding that it will “fully cooperate” with the State Council’s investigations.
Sun also said the airline has been in touch with all 123 passengers’ families, and will continue to maintain proactive communication.
Rescuers search for any survivor at the scene. Photo by Xinhua News Agency.
ID cards and wallets that belonged to the passengers on board are found. Photo by Xinhua News Agency.
