China denies that ‘someone piloted an aircraft carrying hundreds of passengers to the ground’

Debris of the ill-fated plane at the scene at the end of March 2022 – Screenshot THX

Notice sent to Global Times on May 18, in which CAAC emphasized that the NTSB had confirmed to this agency that the US side had not provided the media with any information related to the cause of the MU5735 plane tragedy at the end of March in Vietnam. China.

Flight MU5735 was operated by an American-made Boeing aircraft, so China has asked the NTSB to assist in the investigation.

Before that, the daily newspaper Wall Street Journal of the US, citing private sources, revealed that the cause of the crash of flight number MU5735 could be someone’s deliberate action in the cockpit.

A US official later also told Reuters news agency that the investigation is now focused on the actions of the crew, after a preliminary investigation did not find any technical problems. According to him, the pilot did not respond to repeated calls from air traffic controllers and nearby planes during the crash.

In a statement on May 18, CAAC denied the above information when claiming that until now, the cause of the plane crash has not been determined.

According to CAAC, the investigation is still focused on analyzing and clarifying the found debris as well as flight data. The NTSB is committed to continuing to coordinate with China, including providing technical information to clarify the cause of the accident.

Flight MU5735 crashed on the afternoon of March 21 while en route from Changshui International Airport, Kunming in Yunnan Province to the airport in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province. There were 132 people on board, including passengers and crew.

Some images circulating on social media show the plane plummeting to the ground in the final minutes.

The data also shows that the plane plummeted from more than 8,800m to 982m in about 3 minutes before the flight’s information was no longer updated.