China Eastern Airlines crash: One black box found but in severely damaged condition

China on Wednesday said that one of two black boxes from China Eastern plane crash was found in severely damaged condition. According to reports, the recorder is so damaged that they are not able to tell whether it is the flight data recorder or the cockpit voice recorder.

Recovering the black boxes is key to discovering why the Boeing 737-800 NG jet plunged out of the sky at close to the speed of sound before slamming into a hillside.

Earlier, searchers had used hand tools, drones and sniffer dogs under rainy conditions to comb the heavily forested slopes for the flight data and cockpit voice recorders, as well as any human remains.

Crews also worked to pump water from the pit created when the plane hit the ground, but their efforts were suspended around midmorning because small landslides were possible on the steep, slick slopes. 

Pilots of a doomed China Eastern Airlines Corp. flight failed to respond to calls from air-traffic controllers after tipping into a deadly nosedive, authorities said.

The jet was traveling at close to the speed of sound just before it slammed into a hillside, according to a Bloomberg News review of flight-track data.

Investigators have offered no major insights as to why the Boeing Co. 737-800 jet carrying 132 people crashed near Wuzhou in southern China on Monday, saying at a press conference late Tuesday it was too early draw clear conclusions about the cause. All 123 passengers and nine crew are presumed dead.