Not too long ago, the world was shaken by one of China’s worst air disasters. After extensive efforts, they recovered the black box and sent it to the United States (US) for investigations.
Investigators who examined the plane’s black box believe it had been deliberately crashed.
So far, there has been no evidence pointing to a technical malfunction. Boeing Co – the manufacturer of the jet – declined to comment on the situation.
Earlier on 11 Apr, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) responded to rumours of a deliberate crash, saying that such speculation had “gravely misled the public” and “interfered with the accident investigation work.”
According to Reuters, the China Eastern plane’s black box had been given a preliminary assessment by US officials at a lab in Washington.
An analysis of one of the black boxes showed that someone from the cockpit had intentionally crashed the Boeing 737-800 plane.
The data shows someone who had likely forced their way into the cockpit had input orders to send the Boeing 737-800 into a nosedive.
Source: @Flightradar24 on Twitter
The Wall Street Journal said the report came from “people familiar with the preliminary assessment by US officials”.
In addition, Chinese investigators did not find any indication so far that a technical malfunction had occurred.
After the crash, China Eastern suspended flights for its entire fleet of 737-800 planes in mid-April.
However, they resumed operations after ruling out any immediate safety concerns over the widely used Boeing 737 model.
The US National Transportation Safety Board has also declined to comment on the investigation.
Reuters reported that screenshots from The Wall Street Journal article were allegedly censored on Weibo and WeChat on Wednesday (18 May) morning.
It also said that on Weibo, a Twitter-like platform, the hashtag topics “China Eastern” and “China Eastern black boxes” were banned.
China Eastern could not be immediately reached for comment.
Regardless of what caused the plane crash, the fact remains that it is a horrible tragedy in which many lives were lost.
Hopefully, investigations will continue to uncover details about how it happened to bring some semblance of closure to the loved ones of the deceased.
MS News extends our sincerest condolences to the victims and their families.
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Featured image adapted from Getty Images via Business Insider and 8world News.
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