No news of survivors in China's plane crash; rescue efforts continue
Beijing(PTI): No survivors have so far been found as the search continued on Tuesday of the scattered wreckage of the China Eastern Airlines flight that crashed in a mountainous area in the country's southern region with 132 people on board on Monday.
There is no official announcement here yet on the fate of the 123 passengers and nine crew members as hopes receded about finding any survivors, considering that the plane crashed and exploded in a mountainous area.
There is no news of the location of black box, which may provide information about what caused the crash.
The China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 aircraft, which departed from Kunming and was bound for Guangzhou, crashed into a mountainous area near Molang village in Tengxian County in the city of Wuzhou at 2:38 pm, causing a mountain fire, according to the regional emergency management department.
No survivors have so far been found, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported on Tuesday.
Boeing said it is cooperating with China Eastern Airlines to probe the crash.
Hundreds of rescuers scurried the mountainous forest area throughout the night to find any survivors and to collect the debris.
The crash shattered China's airlines record of over 100 million continuous hours of safe flight as of February 19.
The last domestic fatal air accident was in 2010, when an Embraer passenger plane crashed in Yichun, Heilongjiang province, killing 42 people.
Boeing China on Tuesday said it is in contact with the National Transportation Safety Board in the United States, adding that its technical experts are ready to aid the Civil Aviation Administration of China in conducting the investigation into the incident.
Eye witnesses said the plane exploded after the crash.
"I heard the roar of a plane on the other side of the hill. A second later, there was an explosion," a worker near the crash site told the state-run Xinhua news agency.
Chen Weihao, a villager, was working on a farm when he saw the plane nosedived.
"The plane looked to be in one piece when it nosedived. Within seconds, it crashed," Chen said, adding that the crash site was a gap in a mountain where no one lives.
Villager Shi Fuxiong said he saw a large pit at the crash site and surrounding trees within dozens of metres had been levelled. "There were many pieces of small debris of the plane and baggage, but no large pieces of wreckage," he said.
In his instructions issued soon after the incident, President Xi Jinping said he was shocked to learn about the crash involving China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735 from Kunming to Guangzhou.
He ordered the immediate launch of emergency response, all-out search and rescue efforts and proper settlement of the aftermath.
Vice Premier Liu He and State Councilor Wang Yong led officials to guide the rescue work, proper settlement of the aftermath and investigation into the crash.
The fire has been extinguished and the rescue operation is underway, said Chen Jie, an official from the regional emergency management department.
Over a thousand firefighters have been sent to the area to carry out the rescue operation.
"There is some plane wreckage in a gap in the mountain," a rescue worker at the crash site told Xinhua. "There are pieces of the wings, one of them about 2 or 3 metres. There is other debris, with some probably being pieces of clothing," the rescue worker said.
China Eastern Airlines said it has initiated an emergency response mechanism under which it established nine special working groups for aircraft disposal, accident investigation, family assistance, logistics support, legal support, public relations, security, financial insurance, and cargo disposal.
The airline said the cause of the accident will be fully investigated.
China Eastern Airlines -- one of China's three major air carriers -- has grounded its all Boeing 737-800 after the crash on Monday, company officials said.
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Stop atrocities on Hindus immediately, release ISKCON monk from jail: RSS to Bangladesh interim govt
New Delhi (PTI): The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on Saturday appealed to the Bangladesh interim government to ensure the atrocities on the Hindus are stopped and ISKCON monk Chinmoy Krishna Das is released from jail immediately.
RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale in a statement also appealed to the Indian government to continue its efforts to stop the atrocities on the Hindus and other minorities in Bangladesh and take necessary steps to build global opinion in its support "as soon as possible".
"The attacks, murders, looting, arson as well as inhuman atrocities by Islamic fundamentalists on Hindus, women and all other minorities in Bangladesh are extremely worrying and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh condemns this," he said.
Instead of stopping this, the present Bangladesh government and other agencies are only silent spectators, Hosabale said.
"Out of helplessness, a new phase of injustice and atrocities seems to be emerging against the Hindus of Bangladesh to suppress the voice raised by them in a democratic way for self-defense," the RSS general secretary said.
"It is unjust for the Bangladesh government to send ISKCON monk Chinmoy Krishna Das, who is leading the Hindus in such peaceful demonstrations, to jail," he added
Bangladesh Police earlier on Monday arrested International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) monk Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari from the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport area in Dhaka while he was travelling to Chittagong.
"The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh appeals to the Bangladesh government to ensure that the atrocities on Hindus in Bangladesh stop immediately and release Shri Chinmoy Krishna Das from imprisonment," Hosabale said.
"The RSS also appeals to the Indian government to continue its efforts to stop the atrocities on Hindus and other minorities in Bangladesh and take necessary steps as soon as possible to build global opinion in its support," he added.
At this crucial time, the RSS general secretary said, India and the global community and institutions should stand with the victims of Bangladesh and express their support, and demand that their respective governments make every possible effort to ensure that atrocities on the Hindus and other minorities are stopped in Bangladesh immediately.
This is necessary for world peace and brotherhood, he added.
