Chinese jet's second black box recovered

BEIJING • The second black box from the deadly China Eastern Airlines plane crash last week has been recovered, officials said yesterday, and could help solve the mystery of the jet's breakneck descent.

The Boeing 737-800 was flying between the cities of Kunming and Guangzhou last Monday when it nosedived into a mountainside, disintegrating on impact and killing all 132 people on board.

The cause of the disaster, China's deadliest plane crash in more than 30 years, is not yet known.

An "orange cylindrical object was unearthed" yesterday morning, Mr Zhu Tao, director of safety at the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), told reporters. "Investigators on site have confirmed... it is the storage unit of the flight data recorder."

The plane was equipped with two flight recorders: a cockpit voice recorder and one in the rear passenger cabin tracking flight data. The former was found last Wednesday and sent to Beijing for analysis, which is expected to take several more days.

This second black box contains crucial information such as the speed of the aircraft, its altitude and heading.

"While other parts of the recorder were seriously damaged, the data storage unit appears relatively intact" and "has been sent to a professional lab to be decoded", Mr Zhu said.

Hundreds of people, including firefighters, doctors and investigators - some dressed in full-body protective suits - remained at the scene of the tragedy yesterday, recovering human remains and the wreckage of the plane.

Earthmovers assisted in the operation on the mountainside, which is covered in dense vegetation.

China Eastern Airlines said yesterday that the plane's captain and two co-pilots were not under suspicion. A preliminary investigation had shown the three men to have "excellent service records", the airline said, adding that their home situations hinted at no evidence of trouble.

The captain had more than 6,700 hours of flight experience while the first co-pilot had over 31,000 hours of flight time and the second co-pilot more than 550 hours, officials had said.

The aircraft went down near Wuzhou in southern China last Monday afternoon after losing contact with air traffic control.

Tracking website Flight-Radar24 showed that the jet dropped sharply from an altitude of about 8,900m to 2,400m in just over a minute.

After a brief upswing, it dropped again to 983m, the tracker said. There is no data for the flight after 2.22pm.

The CAAC on Saturday said all of the people on board the aircraft had died, and that almost all their identities had been confirmed through DNA testing.

All 123 passengers and nine crew members were Chinese nationals.

Mr Liu Xiaodong, China Eastern's director of communications, was quoted by the Chinese media as saying yesterday that the process of compensating the families of the victims was already under way.

As at yesterday, 357 relatives of the victims had received psychological counselling, Xinhua reported. The psychological assistance team has also provided counselling to hundreds of rescue workers.

The disaster provoked a swift response from President Xi Jinping, who ordered a probe into its cause as the aviation authorities vowed an extensive two-week check-up of China's vast passenger fleet.

A memorial event was held yesterday at the crash site to mourn the deaths of the 132 people.

At about 2pm, as the sound of horns blared throughout a mountainous area in Teng County, in southern China's Guangxi region, staff of the national emergency response headquarters and rescuers stood solemnly in silence for three minutes in tribute to the victims.

Assisted by local governments and work groups, the families of the victims also held mourning activities for their loved ones.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, XINHUA