Flight MU5735 was from the southwestern city of Kunming to Guangzhou with 123 passengers and 9 crew members on board.
All 132 people on board the crashed China Eastern Airlines airliner in southern China on Monday, March 21, were killed, the Chinese Civil Aviation Authority confirmed, CNN reported.
For several days, rescue teams inspected the crash site, made their way through mud and thickets, scattered wreckage and parts of the plane in the Guangxi region of southern China, while family members of passengers waited for news of their loved ones.
The Chinese Civil Aviation Authority (CAAC) said rescuers identified 120 victims using a DNA test, including 114 passengers and six crew members.
The crash of a Boeing 737-800 was the largest plane crash in China in more than a decade. Flight MU5735 was traveling from the southwestern city of Kunming to Guangzhou with 123 passengers and nine crew members on board, but the plane lost contact over the city of Wuzhou, according to a CAAC statement.
The cause of the crash has not yet been determined, but rescue teams have found a second “black box” of the aircraft, according to Chinese state media “Xinhua”.
The transcript of the flight data recorder, along with the cockpit voice recorder that was sent to Beijing for analysis, should provide key clues as to the causes of the crash, said Zhu Tao, director of China's Aviation Security Administration.
A representative of China Eastern Airlines said that the pre-flight inspection did not show anything suspicious, all crew members were healthy and qualified.
The Chinese Civil Aviation Authority (CAAC) is conducting an investigation, which also involves the US National Transportation Safety Board and the US Federal Aviation Administration. But it can take months, or even more, a year for families to get any answers.
Investigators warned that the process of investigating the cause of the crash would be “very difficult” due to how badly the plane was damaged.
Read also: A passenger plane with 133 people on board crashed in China
China Eastern Airlines and its subsidiaries have suspended 223 Boeing 737-800 aircraft, Liu Xiaodong, a spokesman for the airline, said.
He said the planes are undergoing safety checks and maintenance to make sure they are safe to fly.
The 737-800 is the most common version of Boeing aircraft operated. According to aviation analyst firm Cirium, there are now 4,502 737-800 aircraft worldwide, making it the most common Boeing (BA) aircraft used today.
