Devastating images show the charred personal belongings from the wreckage of the China Eastern plane that fell from the sky on Monday, with still no sign of any survivors.
Dozens of rescuers rummaged through the rubble today, on the remote Chinese mountainside where China Eastern Flight 5735 mysteriously fell from the sky, carrying 132 people.
The flight, which had taken off from the city of Kunming and was en-route to Guangzhou, was travelling at 30,000 feet around 2:20pm when it rapidly began to nosedive.
Terrifying footage captured the plane’s free-fall toward the ground and the subsequent fiery crash.
An “all out rescue effort” has been ordered by President Xi Jinping in the aftermath of the disaster, despite local firefighters warning it does not expect any survivors.
Nearly 1,000 people have joined search parties combing the countryside.
Identity cards, bank cards and wallets were among the items located near the crash site in the southern region of Guangxi, China’s state media said.
Scraps of the plane; a Boeing 737-800, that crashed near the city of Wuzhou have also been found dispersed across the mountainside.
According to New York Post reports , search teams used their hands, picks, sniffer dogs and drones to look for survivors on both sides of the mountain into which the plane crashed.
“As of now, the rescue has yet to find survivors,” Zhu Tao, director of the Office of Aviation Safety at the Civil Aviation Authority of China, told a news conference.
Authorities nor local media have revealed whether human remains had been found amongst the wreckage.
According to Zhu, efforts were now focused on finding the plane’s black box, which holds the flight data and cockpit voice recorders as officials try to establish the cause of the crash.
The aircraft had not responded to repeated calls from air controllers during its rapid descent.
“The jet was seriously damaged during the crash, and investigations will face a very high level of difficulty,” Zhu said.
“We still do not have a clear assessment of the cause for the crash.”
Early revelations from rescue officials suggested that Flight 5735 had disintegrated upon impact.
As rescuers continue their search, the family members of those on board gathered at Kunming and Guangzhou airports today, waiting for news of their loved ones.
Meanwhile, several experts have made suggestions at what brought the Boeing 747-800 out of the skies.
Arthur Rowe, a specialist fellow in gas turbine performance and operability centre for propulsion engineering at Cranfield University, told MailOnline : “It looks most likely a loss of control event, possibly following a high altitude stall of the aircraft.
“As usual there are multiple possible causes. Jammed or unresponsive control surfaces, especially on the tail are one.
“It's unlikely to be engine related as aircraft can fly perfectly well with no engine power - for a limited time obviously.”
Professor Bharath Ganapathisubramani, from Southampton University's engineering and physical sciences department added he believes it is “too early” to say what happened.
Last year manufacturer Boeing revealed 13% of fatal commercial accidents globally between 2011 and 2020 occurred during the cruise phase, whereas 28% occurred on final approach and 26% on landing.
Li Xiaojin, a Chinese aviation expert, added: “Usually the plane is on auto-pilot during cruise stage. So it is very hard to fathom what happened."
