Vice-Premier Wu Bangguo has visited the site of the May 7 air crash of a China Northern Airlines passenger plane off the coast of Dalian, in Northeast China's Liaoning Province.
Wu, on behalf of President Jiang Zemin and Premier Zhu Rongji, comforted relatives of the victims and thanked all those devoted to the rescue efforts.
During his stay, from May 9-10, Wu inspected part of the remains of the aircraft, and heard reports on the accident, witnessed rescue activities and local government investigations aided by the military and armed police.
He urged rescuers to step up efforts to find bodies of the victims and the plane's black box, or the flight date recorder. He also expressed concern for the safety of rescue specialists such as the divers.
The search for aeroplane wreckage and the bodies of the victims entered the third day Friday. Three more bodies were picked up by rescue workers in water close to Dalian harbor, adding the total number of bodies found to 72.
A 15-meter section of the plane's fuselage was located Friday morning. It is the biggest piece of debris the rescue team have so far managed to restore from the water since the plane crashed on Tuesday evening.
Song Jiahui, director of the salvage bureau under the Maritime Safety Administration, said the debris would help contribute to the investigation and may provide reasons as to why the plane crashed.
He said a new advanced underwater detection instrument had been sent to the water area and was being used to search for possible clues beneath the water.
However, he also admitted that it is unlikely that any further large-scale debris will be found. Thin fog invaded the coastal city Friday afternoon, making visibility in the water more difficult for divers.
However, sources with the rescue team said that the fog did not affect their search, and they could still receive weak signals from the flight data recorder.
"But we could not accurately find the recorder's location,'' said Du Jingchen, vice-director of the rescue team.
He said his team were now focusing their search to a smaller location and they would do their best to find the black box as soon as possible.
Insurance companies in Dalian indicated Friday that 42 passengers on board the China Northern Airline's MD-82 plane had purchased travel insurance.
Among them, one person, who registered his name as Zhang Peilin, was found to have brought five 20-yuan-value insurance papers in a Beijing branch before boarding the plane.
The victim's background is still not available yet.
(China Daily May 11, 2002)
