Flight MU5735: DNA tests confirm identities of all China Eastern Airlines crash victims

Communist Party leaders observe moment of silence in remembrance of the lives lost
China will help overseas investigators with visas in the search for the cause of the disaster, ministry says

China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735 crash

Jane Caiin Beijing

Published: 8:31pm, 28 Mar 2022

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All 132 victims of the China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735 plane crash have been identified through DNA testing, investigators said on Monday as President Xi Jinping paid tribute to the victims of the country’s deadliest aviation disaster in decades.

Liu Kaihui, from the Ministry of Public Security’s forensic evidence department, said the process was completed using DNA samples from relatives.

“With the help of fingerprint comparisons, we have confirmed the identities of all the victims,” Liu said in Wuzhou in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, near the crash site.

02:00

All 132 people on board China Eastern Air crash confirmed dead as second black box recovered

Carrying 123 passengers and nine crew members, the Boeing 737-800 disappeared en route to Guangzhou after taking off from Kunming in the southwest last Monday.

It lost more than 6,000 metres (20,000 feet) in altitude in just over a minute before crashing into a hillside in Teng county in Wuzhou.

Authorities confirmed on Saturday that there were no survivors.

Before a Politburo meeting on Monday, Xi and other Communist Party leaders observed a moment of silence for the dead, according to state news agency Xinhua.

The cause of the crash remains unknown. The plane’s two black boxes have been recovered and sent to a laboratory in Beijing for decoding. The flight and voice recorders collect crucial information, including the pilots’ communications and data on the plane’s engines and performance.

Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Beijing would provide visa assistance to all foreign investigators coming to China in the aftermath of the air crash.

The US National Transportation Safety Board is expected to contribute to the investigation because the aircraft was made by an American company.

02:22

Black box from crashed China Eastern Airlines flight found

China was expected to submit a preliminary investigation report to the International Civil Aviation Organization within 30 days of the crash, Mao Yanfeng, the head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China’s aviation accident investigation office, said last week.

More than 36,000 pieces of debris have been recovered from the crash site, in a search that has involved more than 15,600 firefighters and armed police.

Search for more wreckage in the hilly terrain continues, according to Zhu Tao, the CAAC’s aviation safety director.

“We are collecting as much debris as possible, as well as eyewitness footage, because black boxes alone may not be enough to reveal what really happened,” Zhu said.

“We’ll release key findings to the public in a timely manner.”

Guangxi authorities said more than 600 relatives of the victims had arrived in the area and compensation discussions were under way.

The relatives have been swaddled in official security and largely kept away from the media.

The crash site was condoned off right after the incident, and the families were only allowed to pay tribute to their loved ones in organised trips.

The crash has seen an outpouring of sympathy from the public, with Guangxi fire stations receiving hundreds of bunches of flowers every day.

“Please take my flowers to the site. May the dead rest in peace and their loved ones be strong,” The Beijing News quoted one note as saying.