Black box from China flight wreckage uncovered
Emergency workers in China have uncovered one of two black boxes from the China Eastern flight that crashed earlier this week with 132 people on board.
What is believed to be the cockpit voice recorder appeared to have survived the impact, a Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) official said on Wednesday.
Flight MU5735 was en route from the southwestern city of Kunming to Guangzhou when it suddenly took a nosedive into the ground and erupted in a fireball on impact.
According to the flight data, the plane had almost reached its destination after being in the air for more than an hour when it suddenly dropped from an altitude of 29,100ft to 9075ft in just two minutes and 15 seconds.
The search for the second black box is continuing on the ground, while the cause of the crash has yet to be determined.
Most of the plane appears to have disintegrated upon impact, although some debris and human remains have been found.
“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,” CAAC official Zhu Tao said.
The black box is being sent to a Beijing institute for decoding.
Investigators are looking at several possible causes of the crash - including deliberate action, pilot error, or technical issues such as a structural failure or mid-air collision.
Image credits: Twitter