Boeing last night denied reports that its Shenzhen-based field service representative Robert Lowry had access to the wreckage. A spokesman said: 'He may be helping, but he has not been to the site of the wreckage or got his hands on the wreckage.' He said Boeing headquarters in Seattle had received no official correspondence from Chinese authorities regarding assistance. As soon as the accident was reported, the company prepared a team of technical personnel to send to the scene. They had been on standby since Friday, he said. The spokesman could not comment on claims that the crash stemmed from an engine fault. Some newspapers have reported the arrest of an engineer for saying the plane could fly when he was aware of a problem. Meanwhile, Shenzhen mortuary officers said some of the passengers who perished in Thursday's air crash in the Special Economic Zone might be too badly burned for identification. Relatives, who were given pictures of the bodies for initial identification, have been asked to inform the mortuary of any special body markings to speed the identification process. Thirty-five passengers were killed in the crash, including 21 Thai tourists and a Hong Kong man. A spokesman for the Thai Consulate-General in Guangzhou said consulate staff were helping Thai relatives who had arrived in Shenzhen on Sunday. A staff member at the Shenzhen Funeral and Interment Administration said at least seven bodies were so severely charred it made identification almost impossible. China Southern Airlines has promised to settle the funeral bills. State-owned China Central Television said about 200,000 yuan (HK$187,000) would be paid in compensation to each victim's family.
