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By Henry Uche
Rescuers have found no survivors so far from a Boeing jet carrying 132 people which crashed in hills in southern China.
Crash investigators also had no information on why China Eastern flight MU5735 plummeted out of the sky on Monday.
Recovery work at the site of the Boeing 737-800 crash in Guangxi province is being hampered by difficult terrain.
There has been an outpouring of grief in China, where families of passengers and crew are waiting for news.
Hundreds of responders have been scouring the steeply forested slopes in Wuzhou where debris from the plane was strewn after it broke apart and set fire to the hillside.
There had been no official word on casualties until China’s Civil Aviation Administration held its news briefing, some 36 hours after the disaster.
“Up to now, search and rescue work has not found any survivors,” Zhu Tao, aviation safety office director at the CAA, told reporters. “Given the information currently available, we still do not have a clear assessment of the cause for the crash.”
Air controllers had repeatedly called the aircraft during its descent but had received no response, he added.
Rescuers have so far found parts of the 737’s burnt wreckage. State broadcasters showed images of the charred remains of letters, bags, wallets and identity cards belonging to those on board.
