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China to provide visa assistance to all foreign crash investigators

The cause of the China Eastern Airlines crash has mystified aviation authorities

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A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said on Monday that Beijing will provide visa assistance to all foreign investigators coming to China in the aftermath of the China Eastern Airlines crash last week.

The spokesman, Wang Wenbin, was asked at a regular news conference if there were any updates on the visa requirements for US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators taking part in the investigation.

All 132 people aboard the plane that crashed into a mountainside in southern China this week were confirmed dead, the country's civil aviation authority said Saturday.

Dozens of victims' relatives have been waiting for days as rescue teams combed heavily forested slopes for plane debris and signs of survivors from Monday's crash near the city of Wuzhou, Guangxi province.

"All 123 passengers and nine crew members of flight MU5735 of China Eastern airlines have been killed on board on March 21," Hu Zhenjiang, deputy director-general of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, told a press conference.

"The identity of 120 victims has been determined by DNA identification."

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Aviation officials confirmed they had found a black box they believed to be the cockpit voice recorder, which should provide important clues to the cause of the crash.

The cause has mystified aviation authorities, who have scoured rugged terrain for clues in what is almost certain to be China's deadliest plane crash in nearly 30 years.

• Asia