THE afternoon of March 21 was the darkest day in China’s aviation history in over a decade.
A commercial plane with 123 passengers and nine crew members plunged into a remote mountainous area just outside of Wuzhou city in the southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.Among the passengers were a deaf mother and her husband, who had taken their 18-month-old daughter to see a doctor for her congenital branchial cyst. It was the family’s first air travel trip.
Also on board were a newly-wed, a bride-to-be and a man who had just registered for marriage and collected his wedding photo a day before the tragedy.
There was a teenager, who was looking forward to her new school life in the United Kingdom. Her friends had secretly planned a bash to celebrate her 16th birthday the following day.
The China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735 departed from Kunming Changshui Airport in southwestern Yunnan province at 1.16pm and was scheduled to arrive at Guangzhou Baiyun Airport in South China’s Guangdong province around 3.05pm.
Six days into the search and rescue operation, Civil Aviation Administration of China deputy chief Hu Zhenjiang announced all those on board were confirmed dead on Saturday night.
“We have analysed footage of surveillance cameras, air traffic control data and the pattern of the debris at the crash site.
“With a heavy heart and deep sadness, we are here to announce that the 123 passengers and nine crew members onboard China Eastern Flight MU5735 are all dead,” he added.
Those who attended the press conference in Wuzhou observed a minute of silence to mourn the victims.
The Chinese have come together to mourn the victims. They lit candles in their memory and prayed the victims to rest in peace.
Those with family members perished in air tragedies before have also sent their condolences on social media sites, encouraging the anxious next-of-kins of MU5735 to stay strong.
“I hope I will never hear the term ‘plane accident’ again,” wrote one of them.
A list of TV shows including popular variety programmes The Treasured Voice and Trump Card vs Trump Card have stopped airing for a week.
During last Monday’s crash, the plane was cruising at an altitude of some 8,900m but suddenly descended to about 2,200m in two minutes before crashing around 2.20pm.
A video clip, believed to be taken by a local villager, showed the plane plunging vertically to the ground and caused a huge fire that was only put out some three hours later.
Eyewitnesses said they heard a series of explosions and saw thick smoke from the mountain.
“The plane dropped vertically. Although it was quite far from me you could see it was an aircraft.
“There was no smoke, no fire, it’s a whole airplane that fell down,” said a man, identified only as Li.
A search and rescue mission was immediately launched but it was no easy task due to the remoteness and landscape of the area.
Rescuers could only enter by foot.
Landslides and continuous rains worsened the operation efforts.
Both black boxes have been retrieved – the cockpit voice recorder on Wednesday and the flight data recorder yesterday morning.
Initial investigations have ruled out the weather as the cause of accident as it was suitable for flying.
China Eastern said the doomed aircraft met the requirement for flying and all three pilots – the captain, co-pilot and an observer – were in good health.
It also refuted rumours that the accident could have possibly been due to cut in repair and maintenance costs.
So far, hundreds of plane fragments and belongings of the victims were retrieved from the scene.
The airlines has since grounded all 223 Boeing-737 jets, saying it was an emergency response and a responsible move for travellers’ safety.
“It does not mean this model has safety risks,” it clarified.
China Eastern is one of the three major airlines in the Middle Kingdom, along with Air China and China Southern Airlines, all state-owned.
Last Monday’s tragedy has put an end to China’s 12-year air safety record.
The last fatal incident involving a commercial flight was in 2010 killing 44 people in Yichun, northeast of Heilongjiang province.
In the incident, the Henan Airlines flight with 91 passengers and five crew members, crashed and then burst into flames when approaching the runway of Lindu airport.
China ranks among the top three air travel markets.
Last year, its 248 public airports handled over 907 million travellers and 17.83 million tonnes of air freight.
The country also practices tight aviation safety measures following major aviation tragedies in the 1990s and 2000s.
Just a day after the MU5735 incident, nearly 70% of the 11,800 flights scheduled for last Tuesday were cancelled in advance.
Its civil aviation regulator, Civil Aviation Administration of China, has ordered the airlines to further beef up safety measures including enhancing risk prevention and control as well as strictly enforcing regulations and operational standards.
A two-week period was given for them to carry out a safety inspection to step up scrutiny for potential hazards.
The incident was a big blow to China’s aviation industry, which is already severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and now primarily relies on domestic flights.
In the first two months of 2021, the industry incurred a loss of 22.2bil yuan (RM14.73bil).
Even so, it is better to be safe than sorry.
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