:quality(85)/cloudfrontuseast1.images.arcpublishing.com/infobae/3IE7HCQQYF44HXMRLDXMF7DJC4.jpg 420w "You'll find one of the two black boxes from the China Eastern plane that crashed 3")
A rescue vehicle arrives at the entrance of Lu city near the crash site of a China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737800 plane flying from Kunming to Guangzhou, in Wuzhou, China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 23, 2022. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins
By Martin Quin Pollard
WUZHOU, China, March 23 Chinese rescue teams on Wednesday found one of the two flight recorders on the China Eastern Airlines plane that crashed this week in forested mountains with 132 people on board, the regulator said.
The device was badly damaged and it was not immediately clear whether it was the flight data recorder or the cockpit voice recorder, an official with the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) told a news conference.
Flight MU5735 was en route from the southwestern city of Kunming to the coast of Guangzhou on Monday when the Boeing 737800 suddenly crashed from its cruising altitude, about the time it should have begun its approach for landing.
Most of the device appears to have disintegrated upon impact, and no survivors have been found. The cause of the accident has not yet been clarified and aviation authorities warn that their investigation will be very difficult due to the severe damage to the aircraft.
“We found a black box at the crash site, but it’s badly damaged on the outside, so the investigation team is still determining whether it’s the flight data recorder or the cockpit voice recorder,” said Mao Yanfeng, head of aircraft research at the CAAC.
Weather conditions along the flight path on Monday posed no threat to the plane, and air traffic controllers maintained communications with the plane after takeoff and before the rapid descent, Mao told reporters.
During the descent, the plane did not respond to repeated calls from air traffic controllers, the CAAC previously said.
The plane had met airworthiness standards before takeoff, and the three pilots one more than is normally required for a 737 were in good health, officials said.
Heavy rains in southern China on Wednesday hampered search efforts and the wet weather is expected to continue for the rest of the week.
Relatives of the passengers visited the crash site, including a Shenzhen pensioner surnamed Zhang, whose eyes filled with tears when he told Reuters his nephew was on board.
“I hope the country can investigate this matter thoroughly and find out whether it was the manufacturer’s fault or whether it was a maintenance issue,” Zhang said.
GRAPHIC: Airplane accidents in China over the last 40 years https://tmsnrt.rs/3itiUxK
GRAPH: Altitude of China Eastern Airlines Flight MU5735 https://tmsnrt.rs/3wnvEyh
China is searching for survivors of the plane crash, the cause of which is still unclear
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(Reporting by Stella Qiu and Ryan Woo in Beijing and Jamie Freed in Sydney; Spanish editing by Carlos Serrano)