Investigators have said that there is no evidence
so far for sabotage as having been responsible for the plane crash
that killed 55 people in north China on Sunday.
Xu Li, a senior official from the General
Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC), made the remarks
at a conference on Monday in Baotou in Inner
Mongolia Autonomous Region, where the crash occurred.
Efforts are still under way to determine the cause of the accident,
he said.
The State Council organized a team on Monday to
investigate the plane crash. Wang Xianzheng, head of the State Work
Safety Administration, will lead the team, which comprises
government officials, technicians and engineering experts.
The 50-seat Bombardier CRJ-200 jet, carrying 47
passengers and six crew members, fell on Sunday morning a dozen
seconds after it took off from Baotou. One park worker and another
local women on the ground were also killed.
Compensation arrangements for the victims are
already in progress. Twenty-five of them were confirmed to have
purchased insurance policies before boarding the flight, each with
a premium worth 400,000 yuan (US$
48,000), said Zhi Pengfei, regional director of the Insurance
Supervision Bureau. The first sum has been paid to one of the
families.
Experts from the rescue and salvage bureau from the
Ministry of Communications have arrived at the accident site to
help search for the flight data recorder, Xinhua News Agency
reported.
But some say it will provide little help in
determining the cause of the crash since it happened so soon after
take off.
The incident may be a result of mechanical failure
or faulty operational technique, said an aviation expert from the
civil aviation cadres' college.
According to a statement from Bombardier Aerospace,
the airplane manufacturer, an expert team has been sent to China to
help in the accident investigation, Xinhua reported.
Owned by China Eastern
Airlines, the plane was bound for Shanghai.
While working to handle the plane crash, CAAC urged its air
companies on Monday to intensify safety checks. The administration
has dispatched teams across the country to carry out checks into
all CRJ-200 airliners in service, Xu said. All CRJ-200 flights will
be suspended until they are completed.
China has nearly 20 CRJ aircraft owned by seven
different airline companies.
Airlines must strengthen flying skills and aircraft
maintenance to ensure safer flights, an urgent notice released by
the CAAC said Monday.
Airports must intensify security check measures and
tighten management of restricted areas, the notice said.
Air control departments have also been asked to pay
additional attention to safety supervision to ensure air traffic
safety.
(China.org.cn Xinhua News Agency November 23,
2004)
