FIRST BLACK BOX FOUND AMONG CHINA EASTERN WRECKAGE

Chinese investigators are hopeful that the finding of one of two black box recorders among the China Eastern Airlines wreckage will give them more clarity about the crash.

The passenger jet fell from the sky and crashed into a mountainous area on Monday while it was on its way from the city of Kunming to Guangzhou. It seems as if the passenger jet fell from the sky at about the same time it should have started its descent before landing.

None of the 123 passengers and nine crew members on board the Boeing 737-800 jet survived the crash.

It is believed the black box that has been found is the one from the cockpit. At a media briefing, Zhu Tao, a Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) official told reporters that the recording material appeared to have survived the impact and that it is in relatively good shape.

“An initial inspection showed that the exterior of the recorder has been severely damaged, but the storage units, while also damaged to some extent, are relatively complete.”

The black box has been sent to Beijing where members of an institute will be looking at it for decoding purposes. Zhu confirmed that they do not know how long this will take as it depends on the extent of the damage.

The cause of the crash is yet to be discovered as Mayo Yanfeng, head of the aircraft investigation at CAAC told reporters that the weather conditions did not pose any danger to the aircraft and air controllers had communicated with it after take-off and prior to its rapid descent.

American investigators have offered their assistance but due to Chinese Covid-19 protocols, they have to quarantine first.

Image credit: The Citizen