China finds second black box of crashed plane

A second black box from China Eastern Airlines plane that crashed in southern China was found, Chinese state media reported.

 China Eastern Airlines flight. (photo credit: VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS)
China Eastern Airlines flight.
(photo credit: VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS)

Recovery crews on Sunday found the second black box - the flight data recorder - from the wreckage of a China Eastern Airlines 600115.SS Boeing 737-800 jet that crashed into a mountainside in southern China, state media reported.

Flight MU5735, with 132 people on board, was en route from the southwestern city of Kunming to Guangzhou on the coast on Monday when it plummeted from cruising altitude at about the time when it should have started its landing descent.

There had been little hope of finding any survivors. In a late-night news conference on Saturday, officials announced that all of the people on board, including nine crew members, have been confirmed dead. 

The crash was the deadliest air disaster in mainland China since 1994, when a China Northwest Airlines flight from Xian to Guangzhou crashed, killing all 160 people on board.

The cause of the China Eastern crash remains unknown.

Rescue workers walk at the site where a China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 plane flying from Kunming to Guangzhou crashed, in Wuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China March 24, 2022. (credit: REUTERS/CARLOS GARCIA RAWLINS)
Rescue workers walk at the site where a China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 plane flying from Kunming to Guangzhou crashed, in Wuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China March 24, 2022. (credit: REUTERS/CARLOS GARCIA RAWLINS)

The other black box - the cockpit voice recorder - was found on Wednesday, and has been sent to Beijing for examination by experts.