Rescuers work at a plane crash site in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on March 24. Photo: Lu Boan/Xinhua via Getty Images
None of the 132 passengers aboard a China Eastern flight that crashed earlier this week survived, Chinese officials confirmed Saturday, per the AP.
Driving the news: While the cause of the crash is still under investigation, authorities have so far used DNA analysis to identify the remains of 114 passengers and six crew members aboard the flight at the time, AP writes.
Details: The plane, which was a 6-year-old Boeing 737-800, was flying at 29,000 feet on Monday when it nosedived into a mountainous area in southern China’s Guangxi region.
- The flight, MU 5735, had departed from Kunming en route to Guangzhou and was scheduled to begin its descent to its destination shortly before the crash.
- China Eastern, one of the country’s four major airlines, has grounded 223 of the planes, according to the AP. Officials said the step was taken as a precaution.
- Rescue workers have continued to comb the site for remains and a second black box with flight data that could offer clues to what went wrong.
The big picture: China's last major aviation disaster was in 2010, when at least 42 people were killed after a plane overshot the runway at Yichun City's airport.