A large portion of the wreckage of the plane which crashed off the coast of Dalian port, northeast China's Liaoning Province has been salvaged.
The portion, somewhere from 14 to 15 meters (15.3 to 16.4 yards) in length, is a section linking the nose of the crashed plane and a part behind it. According to experts, this will probably be the largest wreckage piece found so far to survive the crash.
Song Jiahui, director of the Salvage Bureau under the Ministry of Communications, said that the piece will provide important clues for the investigation into the cause of the crash.
The China Northern Airlines MD-82 plane carrying 103 passengers and a nine-member crew plunged into the sea Tuesday night after a fire broke out in the cabin.
All 112 people aboard are confirmed dead and 69 bodies have been retrieved.
(Xinhua News Agency May 10, 2002)
