China found victim’s body and 183 plane debris

Search team at the crash site. Photo: ABC News

ABC news agency quoted Zhu Tao, director of the Aviation Safety Office of the Civil Aviation Administration of China as saying at a press conference.

According to Chinese officials, the Boeing 737-800 crashed into the mountainside with great force, creating a hole more than 200 meters deep and then breaking into pieces.

A piece of the plane 1.2m long was found on farmland about 100m from the crash site. Chinese authorities did not speculate on why plane debris was found there, but said they would expand the search area.

Family of plane crash victims

The cockpit voice recorder, which was installed in the cargo compartment behind the plane, was found on March 23 and has been sent for analysis. Search teams are still searching for the plane’s second black box. This black box is the flight data recorder, mounted on the ceiling of the rear compartment of the plane.

According to Zhu Tao, most of the wreckage of plane 5735 was concentrated in and around the hole created when the plane crashed. Among the debris found was an engine wing, left and right stabilizers, wing pieces and the autopilot.

One of the plane’s two black boxes was found. Photo: ABC News

“We also found the crew’s escape rope, the debris of the crew’s manual and some documents about the crew that are normally kept in the cockpit,” said Zhu Tao.

The cause of the plane crash is currently under investigation.

The Boeing 737-800 plane carrying 132 passengers crashed while en route from Kunming to Guangzhou. Preliminary data shows that the plane made a sudden descent and dived in a near-vertical direction. Air traffic controllers contacted the crew several times when they realized the plane was descending but failed.

Hoai Linh