China Plane Crash: Second black box recovered

Rescue workers work at the site where a China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 plane flying from Kunming to Guangzhou crashed, in Wuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China March 24, 2022. REUTERS

China's official Xinhua News Agency announced on March 27 that the second black box (flight data recorder) of China Eastern jet that crashed on March 21 killing all 132 on board, has been recovered.

Just in: Second black box of crashed China plane recovered: official pic.twitter.com/i7aVh644T3

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— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) March 27, 2022

Flight MU5735 was travelling from the southwestern city of Kunming to the port city of Guangzhou when it plummeted from cruising altitude to crash in a heavily forested area of Guangxi region. According to flight tracking website FlightRadar24, the plane briefly appeared to pull out of its nosedive, before plunging again into a heavily forested slope in the mountainous region of southern China.

The other black box was found on March 23 and was sent to Beijing for examination by experts.

According to Chinese authorities, the pilots did not respond to repeated calls from air traffic controllers during the rapid descent.

China confirmed late on March 26 that all 132 passengers and crew on a China Eastern Airlines plane had died.

The crash was the deadliest air disaster in mainland China since 1994, when a China Northwest Airlines flight from Xian to Guangzhou crashed, killing all 160 people on board.

The United States has also been invited to take part, as the Boeing 737-800 was designed and manufactured there.