Wing, Engine Parts Found At China Eastern Crash Site

Hundreds of people in rain gear and rubber boots searched muddy, forested hills in southern China on Thursday, looking for the second flight recorder from a jetliner that crashed with 132 people on board.

No survivors have been found since the China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 dived into a mountainous area on Monday during a domestic flight, but authorities say they still are looking.

Some human remains and engine parts were found, as well as items from the cockpit and some personal belongings, officials said. State TV showed searchers on a denuded slope trying to dislodge a white wing section emblazoned with the airline's red-and-blue logo.

One of two black box recorders, believed to be the cockpit voice recorder, was found on Wednesday. Its outer casing was damaged but the orange cylinder was relatively intact, investigators said.

China Eastern, one of the mainland’s four major airlines, said on Thursday the Shanghai-based carrier and its subsidiaries have grounded a total of 223 Boeing 737-800 aircraft while they investigate possible safety hazards.

China Eastern earlier said the grounding of planes was a precaution, not a sign that there was anything wrong. The airline has said the plane that crashed was in good condition and its flight crew was experienced and in good health.

The plane that crashed was flying from Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province, to Guangzhou.

Investigators have said it is too early to discuss possible causes. An air traffic controller tried to contact the pilots several times after seeing the plane’s altitude drop sharply but got no reply, officials have said.

The government has yet to release the pilots' names, but news reports identified the captain as Yang Hongda. The co-pilot, according to news reports, was Zhang Zheng, a veteran with 32,000 hours of flying time in a 30-year career.

An unidentified former colleague of Zhang cited by an online news outlet, The Paper, said he was a mentor to young pilots who had a “sunny disposition” and captained the air academy’s basketball team.

A second co-pilot, Ni Gongtao, was flying with them to gain experience, according to news reports.

On Thursday, pumps were being used to drain a pit at the centre of the crash site as light rain hampered work for a second day.

“The rainstorm made the job harder,” said Zheng Xi, fire chief of the Guangxi region, at a news conference. Zheng said muddy roads were so hard to get through that some searchers walked to the site carrying tools and other equipment.

More than 300 searchers were taking part, said Huang Shangwu, a deputy fire chief. “The water pumping yesterday greatly contributed to the finding of the black box,” Huang told reporters at a command centre near the crash site.

Searchers have been using hand tools, metal detectors, drones and sniffer dogs to comb the heavily forested and steep slopes. Wallets, identity and bank cards and human remains have been found. (AP)