BEIJING
\nThe cause of the crash of the China Eastern Airlines jet last week must be determined as soon as possible, state media said on Thursday, following a meeting of China\u2019s highest decision-making body helmed by President Xi Jinping.
\nInformation about the March 21 crash, which killed all 132 people onboard, must be released in an open, timely and transparent manner, state media said in a report on the meeting of the seven-person Standing Committee of the Communist Party\u2019s politburo, China\u2019s top leadership.
\nA nationwide safety inspection should also be launched to prevent as much as possible the occurrence of safety accidents, state media said. If accidents do happen due to negligence, not only will the personnel in charge be punished, the relevant top officials will also be investigated, state media said.
\nEarlier on Thursday, an aviation official said China has completed the main search and rescue work at the mountainside in southern China where the crash of the Boeing 737-800 happened, and a preliminary report is expected within 30 days of the disaster.
\nA final report into the crash will be completed and made public after the investigation is concluded, Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) safety head Zhu Tao told reporters.
\nCiting the Standing Committee meeting, state media said all relevant parties investigating the crash are to gather experts to comprehensively analyse the aircraft\u2019s flight data and other evidence, and find out the cause and nature of the crash \u201cas soon as possible\u201d.
\nUnder international rules, a 30-day report must be lodged with the U.N. aviation agency ICAO but it does not need to be public. A final report is due within a year of the crash, though sometimes it can take longer.
\nZhu said authorities have done preliminary analyses of the crash, such as predicting the possible trajectory, position and impact force of the airplane when it hit the ground and reading data from air traffic control radar systems.
\nCAAC investigators are also working to decode the data from both the black boxes, he added.
\nInvestigators from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board are set to travel to China to support the CAAC\u2019s investigation into mainland China\u2019s deadliest aviation disaster in 28 years.
\nOver 40,000 pieces of aircraft wreckage and debris have been found and a majority of the pieces have been transported to a hangar, Zhu said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BEIJING The cause of the crash of the China Eastern Airlines jet last week must be determined as soon as possible, state media said on Thursday, following a meeting of China\u2019s highest decision-making body helmed by President Xi Jinping. Information about the March 21 crash, which killed all 132 people onboard, must be released in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-252386","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n