Rescuers conduct search and rescue work at the China Eastern Airlines' flight MU5735 crash site in Tengxian county, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, on March 25, 2022. Photo: VCG

President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders attending a high-level meeting of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on Monday observed a moment of silence to mourn the victims of China Eastern Airlines plane crash.

The moment of silence, proposed by Xi, was observed at the start of a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, according to Xinhua News Agency. 

The China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735 aircraft crashed into a mountainous area in Tengxian County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, on March 21.

All 132 people on board were dead, according to the national emergency response headquarters for the accident. Investigation is still underway to find the cause of the crash. 

The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) decided to set up a supervisory group to carry out safety supervision in North China and Southwest China from Tuesday to Thursday, according to the CAAC Journal on Monday. 

The main task for the group includes self-inspection in personnel qualification management, operational risk control, and continuous airworthiness and maintenance of aircraft, in a bid to resolutely defend civil aviation safety.

The DNA identification for 132 victims of crashed flight has been completed, according to a press conference held in Wuzhou, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Monday. 

The decoding of the two black boxes found in the wreckage is already underway, but relying on the black boxes alone will not necessarily tell the whole story.

Officials are still collecting aircraft debris and available footage of the incident to help piece together the cause of the crash, according to Zhu Tao, director of the aviation safety office of the CAAC.

At present, the main task of the rescue team is to search for the remains of victims and aircraft debris. On Monday, large machines began to carry out deep-soil operations at the crash site surrounding the aircraft's point of impact.

As of 12:00 on Monday, a total of 15,640 search and rescue personnel had been dispatched to search the core area and surrounding key areas on multiple occasions, over 36,001 items of aircraft wreckage and debris have been recovered according to officials. 

In addition to the deployment of manual search teams in the outer sections of the impact zone, five drone aerial photography search groups have also been deployed, covering a cumulative search area of about 9.546 million square meters.

On Wednesday, rescue command headquarters dispatched geophysical detection equipment and has identified the approximate distribution and depth of the aircraft wreckage underground, assisting crash investigators. . 

Officials at the press conference confirmed that technical investigation work is being fast tracked, as they are collecting and sorting out a large volume of text, audio and video evidence such as aircraft airworthiness maintenance, crew training, passenger luggage and cargo, and air traffic control command and monitoring, as well as witnesses. 

As of 12:00 on Monday, a total of 809 family members of the victims had been granted access to the crash site to mourn their loved ones.   

Global Times