Chinese authorities officially confirmed on Saturday that there were no survivors in the crash of a China Eastern 737-800 earlier this week with 132 people on board.
The announcement by a Civil Aviation Administration of China official at a late night press conference was followed by a brief moment of silence. Investigators have identified 120 of the victims through DNA analysis, state media reported.
The flight from the city of Kunming in southwestern China was flying at 29,000 feet on Monday when it suddenly plunged into a mountainous area shortly before it was said to have begun its descent to the airport in Guangzhou, a provincial capital and export manufacturing center near Hong Kong. Kong on the southeast coast of China.
Construction excavators dug into the crash site on Saturday looking for wreckage, remains and the second black box. Searchers found the cockpit voice recorder on Wednesday, but did not find the flight data recorder.
Workers wearing knee-high rubber boots used shovels and other hand tools to sift through the earthen slopes into a 65-meter-deep pit left by the plane. Debris and other items were collected in dozens of rectangular mud-stained plastic containers.
Pumps were used to drain water as muddy conditions in the rainy area hampered the search. An excavator stopped working after it became partially stuck, state broadcaster CCTV said.
The cause of the crash remained a mystery. An air traffic controller tried several times to contact the pilots after seeing the plane’s altitude drop sharply, but received no response, officials said.
Authorities said forensic and criminal investigation experts had confirmed the identities of 114 passengers and six crew members.
China Eastern, one of China’s four major airlines, and its subsidiaries have grounded all of their 737-800 aircraft, totaling 223 aircraft. The carrier said the grounding was a precaution, not a sign of anything wrong.
