China: Flight recorder recovered from plane that crashed carrying 132 passengers

A flight recorder from the China Eastern MU5735 aircraft, which crashed in south China, was recovered on Wednesday, reported Agence France-Presse.

The Boeing 737 plane carrying 132 passengers and operated by China Eastern Airlines crashed in the rural locality near Wuzhou city of the Guangxi region on Monday. There was no sign of any survivors from the crash. This is one of the worst aeroplane crashes in China in 30 years.

The MU5735 has two flight recorders. One of them located in the rear cabin tracks flight data and the other is a cockpit voice recorder, according to Agence France-Presse.

It is still unclear which flight recorder, also known as a black box, has been recovered, said Mao Yanfeng, an official at the Civil Aviation Administration of China, according to state media. The flight recorder is reported to be badly damaged.

The plane had rapidly lost speed and stopped transmitting data southwest of Wuzhou city, at around 2.22 pm local time. Recovering the data from black box will help determine what transpired during the crash.

Flight lost altitude rapidly

The flight that crashed had lost nearly 26,000 feet in altitude in less than three minutes, according to data from online flight tracker FlightRadar24.

At 6.20 GMT, the plane was cruising at 29,100 feet. In less than three minutes, it had plummeted to 3,225 feet, according to FlightRadar24 data.

Meanwhile, China Eastern Airlines said on Monday that it deeply mourned the deaths of passengers and crew members. It did not, however, state how many persons were killed.

Boeing said that it was prepared to assist the Chinese airline, and was also in contact with transport safety regulators in the United States about the crash. Boeing is a United States-based airline.

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