No survivors found one day after crash of Chinese airliner

A China Eastern airline jet is partially blurred by the heated air emitted from another jet at Hongqiao Airport in Shanghai, China
Associated Press/Alexander F. Yuan

There have been no survivors found in the Monday crash of a Boeing 737-800 plane that plummeted from the sky during a China Eastern flight that was carrying 132 passengers, The Associated Press reports.

Officials have offered no explanation on what may have caused the flight to fall from the sky shortly before it would have begun its scheduled descent, AP reported.

Wallets, bank cards and identity cards were found among the wreckage along with pieces of the broken airplane as rescue workers scoured the wreckage site in the Chinese mountainside, the AP noted. 

Officials told the AP that it will be difficult to locate the black boxes, which contain flight data and cockpit voice recorders. The search will include drones and manual locating. 

The rescue search in the deeply-forested area included ambulances, rescue vehicles and emergency power supply as soldiers and other workers looked through the wreckage site, reports the AP.

Police closed off access to the area and checked vehicles that entered the surrounding area to the crash site, reports the outlet. 

According to onlookers, five people came out of the nearby village, got into a car, and left. They are thought to be relatives of the passengers, according to the AP. 

Family members of those onboard also gathered at both the departure and arrival airports of the flight, at Kunming and Guangzhou airports. 

People who waited there were brought mattresses and bagged meals, and the AP reported that a security guard blocked them from conducting interviews, explaining that they “aren’t being accepted” at this time. 

Tags Aviation Boeing 737 China China Eastern plane crash

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