Washington, April 2: A team of US investigators have departed for China to probe the causes of an airliner crash that killed all 132 people on a Boeing 737-800 operated by China Eastern Airlines on March 21, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced on Friday, “NTSB team has departed for China to participate in CAAC [Civil Aviation Administration of China]’s B-737 accident investigation,” the board said in a Twitter message. The US investigators will limit interactions with those outside of investigation similar to the safety protocols at the Beijing Winter Olympic Games earlier this year, the NTSB explained. This will allow them to begin work immediately without a quarantine, the agency noted. The China-bound team includes NTSB investigators and technical experts from Boeing, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and engine manufacturer CFM International. The delay in leaving had to do with adhering to China’s rigorous constraints because of new outbreaks of a COVID-19 variant, the agency earlier explained. Flight MU5735, with 132 people aboard, was enroute from the southwestern city of Kunming to Guangzhou on March 21 when it plunged from cruising altitude and crashed. (UNI/SPUTNIK–photo credits BBC).
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