China Eastern airlines crash details announced: no survivors found, all-out efforts to gather evidence
Plane crash condition: No survivors found
China Eastern Airlines Flight MU5735 took off from Kunming at 13:16 on March 21 and entered Guangzhou control area at 14:17 at a cruising altitude of 8,900 meters, said Zhu Tao, director of the Aviation safety Office of the Civil Aviation Administration of China. At 14:20, the controller found that the plane lost altitude sharply and called the crew for several times, but did not receive any reply. At 14:23, the radar signal of the plane disappeared. After verification, the plane crashed in Teng County, Wuzhou City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. As of the early morning of The 22nd, the search and rescue work has not found survivors, the public security department has sealed off the site.
There were 123 passengers (no foreign passengers) and 9 crew members (3 pilots, 5 flight attendants and 1 security officer). So far, no survivors have been found. The aircraft was introduced on June 22, 2015 and had flown 8,986 sorties with a total of 18,239 hours by the time of the accident.
Sun Shiying, chairman of The Yunnan Branch of China Eastern Airlines, said the plane met airworthiness requirements before takeoff and the crew members were in good health and had complete flight experience.
Investigation progress: It is not clear what caused the accident
Zhu Tao, director of the aviation safety office of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, said the plane was badly damaged and the investigation was difficult. Given that the investigation has just begun, it is not possible to make a clear judgment about the cause of the accident with the information currently available. In the next step, the investigation team will spare no effort to collect evidence from all parties, focusing on the search for the flight recorder at the accident site, and carry out the cause analysis based on information from all aspects to find out the cause of the accident in an in-depth and comprehensive way. Once the investigation progress is made, it will be announced as soon as possible.
Progress of rescue work
The guangxi Fire and rescue Brigade arrived at the scene at 15:50 on Sunday and found parts of the wreckage, a strong smell of fuel and a partially extinguished wildfire, Zheng Xi, head of the guangxi fire and rescue corps, said at a press conference. On the scene of the fire rescue forces immediately organized to extinguish the embers, while carrying out personnel search and rescue. The incident occurred in the mountain forest area, narrow roads, valleys and horizontal, fire rescue personnel with lifesaving tools divided into three groups to the core area of the dragnet search, at the same time, the organization of full-time firefighters on the surrounding 20 kilometers of the search. On The 22nd, they organized another 200 people to carry out regional dragnet investigation. At present, the fire rescue team is carrying out rescue work in a scientific and orderly manner.
Sun Shiying, chairman of China Eastern Airlines Yunnan Company, said, one is to pay close attention to the search and rescue situation of passengers, and the Party Committee and government of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Wuzhou City Committee, municipal government close contact, ready to provide resources and transport capacity guarantee;
Second, to do a good job in the assistance work of passengers' families, quickly open the assistance hotline, and take the initiative to contact with family members through various channels, as soon as possible to fully grasp the information of passengers, within 24 hours to contact all 123 passengers' families, set up more than 100 family assistance work team, orderly family assistance work;
Third, we will carry out investigations on potential safety risks, comprehensively strengthen flight, maintenance, air protection, passenger and cargo inspection and control, and ensure absolute safety of aviation operations with the highest standards, strictest requirements, the strongest strength and the most realistic work style.
Sun Shiying introduced, 123 passengers' families involved in many provinces and cities. In accordance with civil aviation practice, China Eastern airlines has set up family assistance centers in Kunming, the departure point, Guangzhou, the destination, and Wuzhou, the site of the accident. China Eastern airlines has sent more than 160 assistance experts to carry out the assistance service of "one book for each family and one special team". As the epidemic situation is severe, families are advised to stay in their place of residence and contact the staff of China Eastern Airlines, so that they can also timely grasp the information of the incident and properly communicate the aftermath.