NANNING, March 26 (Xinhua) -- All 132 people on board China Eastern Airlines' plane that crashed Monday in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region were dead, official sources said Saturday night.
The national emergency response headquarters for the China Eastern Airlines Flight MU5735 aircraft accident on March 21 made the announcement after six days of all-out search and rescue efforts.
"It is with great sadness that we here announce that the 123 passengers and nine crew members on board China Eastern Airlines Flight MU5735 on March 21 have all died," Hu Zhenjiang, deputy commander of the headquarters and deputy head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China.
According to the requirements made by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council, the headquarters has organized personnel from multiple departments, including fire fighters, soldiers, armed police, public security, health and quarantine, to carry out massive research at the crash site for the past six consecutive days, he said.
Together with experts' analysis of video contents in various monitoring and recording equipments, the key data recorded by facilities such as the air traffic control radar, and particularly the wreckage distribution at the crash site, it can be determined that there have been no signs of life at the crash site, Hu said.
So far, identities of 120 victims of the plane crash have been confirmed through DNA testing. ■
