Rescuers work near the site where China Eastern flight MU5375 crashed
(Picture: AFP via Getty Images)Human remains have been discovered at the plane crash site in China, state media has said.
No survivors have been found after the China Eastern jet carrying 132 people went into a near-vertical dive, crashed and sparked a mountainside fire on Monday.
Grief-stricken relatives have now visited the site as the recovery emergency workers continued to search the area among the wreckage of the plane.
Off-and-on rain has been impeding the search of the crash site.
Hand tools, metal detectors, drones and sniffer dogs have been used in the search of the heavily forested area.
Wallets, identity and bank cards have been discovered.
The search is on to find the second black box from the plane after the first believed to be the cockpit voice recorder was found earlier in the week.
The black boxes are key to establishing the final moments before a plane crashes.
"An initial inspection showed that the exterior of the recorder has been severely damaged, but the storage units, while also damaged to some extent, are relatively complete," CAAC official Zhu Tao said.
Cockpit voice recorders can capture voices, audio alerts and background sounds from the engine or even switches being moved.
The flight data recorder stores information about the plane’s airspeed, altitude and direction up or down as well as pilot actions and the performance of important systems.
An air-traffic controller tried to make contact with the pilots a number of times after seeing the plane’s altitude drop sharply but there was no response, officials said.
Weather along the flight path did not pose any danger to the aircraft on Monday, said head of aircraft investigation at CAAC Mao Yanfeng.
Investigators said it is too early to speculate on the cause of the crash.
One of China’s major airlines, the jet was travelling from Kunming to Guangzhou.
