The China Civil Aviation Administration (CAAC) said it had identified 120 of the victims using DNA tests, including 114 passengers and six crew members. Monday’s crash of a Boeing 737-800 marks the worst air disaster in China in more than a decade. Flight MU5735 was en route from the southwestern city of Kunming to Guangzhou with 123 passengers and nine crew members when it lost contact over the city of Guizhou, the CAAC said in a statement. The cause of the crash has not yet been determined, but the discovery of the voice recorder in the cockpit on Wednesday could provide critical clues as to how the disaster unfolded. It is one of the two so-called “black boxes”, with researchers still searching for the flight data recorder. Zhu Tao, director of the CAAC Aviation Security Bureau, told a news conference Saturday that teams had found an emergency tracker, which is usually installed near the second black box. An airline spokesman said Tuesday that the plane was “flying normally” before suddenly crashing and losing contact with ground control, just over an hour after the flight. Pre-flight tests showed nothing wrong and all crew members were healthy and qualified, he added. An investigation by the China Civil Aviation Authority (CAAC) is ongoing, also involving the US National Transportation Security Council and the US Federal Aviation Administration. But it may take months, or even more than a year, for families to receive any answers – the final report on Henan Airlines’ fatal accident in 2010 was not released until almost two years later. Air crash investigators warned on Tuesday that investigating the cause of the crash would be “very difficult” due to the severe damage the plane has suffered. China Eastern Airlines and its subsidiaries have temporarily grounded 223 Boeing 737-800 aircraft, Liu Xiaodong’s spokesman said on Thursday. The landing aircraft are subject to security inspection and maintenance to ensure they are safe to fly, he said. The airline also launched a sweeping safety review after the crash, he added. The 737-800 is the most common version of Boeing jets currently in service, and is the driving force behind many airline fleets. There are 4,502 of the 737-800 in service now worldwide, according to aviation analyst Cirium, making it by far the most common Boeing (BA) aircraft in use today. CNN’s Jessie Yeung, Laura He, Chris Isidore, and CNN’s Beijing office contributed to this report.
