China plane crash: No survivors found in wreckage of China Eastern flight 5735

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China plane crash: No survivors found in wreckage of China Eastern flight 5735

6:16 CAT | 22 Mar 2022

Debris at the site of a plane crash in Tengxian County in southern China.[Photo: CCTV via AP Video]

Rescue workers have found no survivors in the wreckage of China Eastern flight 5735, which crashed on Monday.

The Boeing 737-800 aircraft went down in the remote Chinese mountainside with 123 passengers and nine crew members on board.

The plane crashed outside the city of Wuzhou in the Guangxi region while flying from Kunming to Guangzhou. According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, all the passengers are believed to be Chinese.

The cause of the plane crash has not yet been revealed.

Footage on China’s state media shows small pieces of the Boeing 737-800 plane scattered over a wide forested area. Each piece of the wreckage has been marked by authorities and cordoned off by police tape.

Rescue workers said on Tuesday that they have recovered mud-stained wallets, bank cards and official identity cards from the scene.

Search teams planned to work through the night using sniffer dogs and other equipment to look for survivors, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

The steep, rough terrain and the huge size of the debris field have complicated the search for the plane’s black boxes, which hold the flight data and cockpit voice recorders.

Family members of those onboard the flight have gathered at the destination and departure airports on Tuesday, waiting for further news.

The plane crash — China’s first in more than a decade — has dominated the country’s news and social media and has prompted messages of support from a number of international leaders.

“Terrible news about the China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735,” tweeted UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

“My thoughts are with the families of all those caught up in this tragedy and the search and rescue teams currently responding.”

Boeing Chief Executive Dave Calhoun said that the company was deeply saddened by the news and had offered the full support of its technical experts to assist in the investigation.

“The thoughts of all of us at Boeing are with the passengers and crew members … as well as their families and loved ones,” he wrote in a message to employees.

Source: Euronews