Debris from the plane that crashed in China is more than 10 km away from the crash site

According to the Straitstimes, on March 24, Zheng Xi, head of the Guangxi Provincial Fire and Rescue Service, said the search radius had increased by about double from the previous day. Authorities found 183 plane parts, including the engine as well as the belongings of 21 passengers.

However, most of the debris was found within a radius of 30 meters from the crash site. This is a valley surrounded by steep hills in the remote mountains. Rescuers are trying to scour the rough terrain for the remaining flight data recorders of flight MU5735.

Torrential rain made the search effort extremely difficult, especially to the east of the search area which is virgin forest. The rescue team was able to clear a large amount of landslide, but had difficulty moving because the soil was soaked with rainwater. “There are a lot of things hidden under the foliage, like venomous snakes and animals, so we have to be very careful,” Zheng told the media.

On March 21, a Boeing 737-800 aircraft with number MU5735 of China Eastern Airlines departed from Kunming city (capital of Yunnan province) to Guangzhou city (capital of Guangdong province). lost contact while flying over Wuzhou city in Guangxi province.

At the time of the accident, there were 132 people on board, including 123 passengers and 9 crew members. According to officials, all passengers and crew members on the flight were killed.

After two days of searching, on March 23, rescuers found one of the two black boxes of the Boeing 737-800. The device was sent to Beijing for analysis.

US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Chinese authorities had invited the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to participate in the investigation of the accident. However, the NTSB said it has yet to confirm whether investigators traveled to China due to visa and quarantine requirements.