Investigation of the cause, such as the reason for the sudden drop of the gas
Hong Kong media: “China monitors survivors – media control”
China’s Dongfang Airlines flight that crashed with 132 people on board was dead, Chinese authorities said. Dongfang Airlines Flight Accident Emergency Measures Command Headquarters held a press conference on the 27th and said, “It has been confirmed that all 123 passengers and 9 crew members aboard the plane have died.”
The command headquarters also said that no traces of explosives were found in the wreckage of the accident. “As a result of testing 41 out of 66 samples collected from the wreckage of the accident site, no inorganic or organic explosives were detected,” said Zhu Tao, head of the Civil Aviation Administration’s Aviation Safety Office.
The command headquarters also said that the search team at the accident site found and recovered an orange tank 1.5 meters below the ground on a hill east of the site where the plane crashed this morning. Experts described the tank as the second black box of the accident. On the 23rd, another black box, the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR), was discovered and is currently being read. As both black boxes of the accident plane are secured, it is expected that the investigation of the cause of the accident, including the reason for the sudden drop of the aircraft at the time of the accident, will gain momentum.
Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on the 27th that Chinese authorities are closely monitoring the families of passengers on the Dongfang Airlines flight and are controlling the media coverage of the site.
Chinese authorities announced on the 25th, the day of the accident, that at least three special support teams were assigned to each survivor. According to Nanfeng Choong, a weekly magazine in Guangdong Province, China, the site of the accident was closed as soon as the bereaved family arrived at the scene. Authorities have instructed Chinese media not to “focus too much on sadness”. The special support team is closely monitoring each family member, and the media has not attempted to interview the family by phone, the SCMP said.
Beijing = Correspondent Ki-yong Kim kky@donga.com
