The Chinese mainland yesterday gave Taiwan
authorities its radar data and written records relating to
the May 25 crash of a Hong Kong-bound China Airlines jet.
Wang Suh-yun, Deputy Director of the
Taiwan-based Cross-Straits Economic and Trade Association
said: "This data will be sent to experts as soon as
possible in order to help determine the real cause for the
crash."
Wang arrived at Beijing
International Airport yesterday afternoon to receive the
data. She returned to Taiwan later yesterday via Hong Kong.
Mu Ming-chu, a Taiwan "legislator"
who accompanied Wang, said that the Taiwan side was very
grateful for the mainland's assistance. She said he hoped
that the mainland people and government departments could
continue to help the search for victims of the plane crash.
Liu Yajun, Deputy Director of the Air-Traffic
Management Bureau of the General Administration of Civil
Aviation of China, said the mainland is willing to exert the
utmost effort in helping the rescue work and investigation.
The Cross-Straits Economic and Trade
Association last Thursday wrote to the mainland's
Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS)
and requested radar and satellite data to use in its
investigation of the crash.
Relevant
departments on the mainland -- including the Air-traffic
management department in Xiamen and experts from Sichuan
University -- collected radar data and written analyses the
next day after receiving the request.
According to Liu, the mainland's radar data
records the speed, altitude and other relevant data about
Flight CI-611 from 07:13 and 17 seconds to 07:28 and 21
seconds GMT.
The plane was more than 9,000
meters in the air, and only less than 1 percent of the
wreckage has so far been retrieved.
The Taiwan
side said that information recorded near sea-level is needed
to better track the fall of the debris and locate the
wreckage.
Since May 25, the relevant mainland
departments have worked hard to help the Taiwanese
authorities in various ways.
Mainland fishing
boats have helped retrieve 10 bodies. Two other mainland
fishing boats recovered 22 pieces of wreckage from the
plane.
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