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A6 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 22 March 2022
Chinese airliner crashes with 132 aboard in country’s south

By KEN MORITSUGU were killed. Investigators
Associated Press blamed pilot error.
BEIJING (AP) — A China Aviation experts said they
Eastern Boeing 737-800 expect that China will ask
with 132 people on board the U.S. National Transpor-
crashed in a remote moun- tation Safety Board for help,
tainous area of southern although a safety board
China on Monday, officials spokesman said Monday
said, setting off a forest fire that had not happened
visible from space in the yet. The U.S. Federal Avia-
country’s worst air disaster tion Administration, which
in nearly a decade. certified the 737-800 in the
More than seven hours af- 1990s, said it was ready to
ter communication was lost help in the investigation if
with the plane, there was asked. Crash investigations
still no word of survivors. are usually led by officials
The Civil Aviation Admin- in the country where the
istration of China said in a crash occurred, but they
statement that the crash typically include the air-
occurred near the city of plane’s manufacturer and
Wuzhou in the Guangxi re- the investigator or regula-
gion. The flight was traveling tor in the manufacturer’s
from Kunming in the south- In this photo taken by mobile phone released by Xinhua News Agency, a piece of wreckage of home country.
western province of Yun- the China Eastern’s flight MU5735 are seen after it crashed on the mountain in Tengxian County, Shahidi said he expects
nan to the industrial center south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Monday, March 21, 2022. investigators to comb
of Guangzhou along the Associated Press through the maintenance
east coast, it added. ers were swiftly dispatched ed. Aviation experts said certainly had an excellent history of the plane and its
China Eastern flight 5735 from Guangxi and neigh- it is unusual to ground an safety record,” the foun- engines, the training and
had been traveling 455 boring Guangdong prov- entire fleet of planes unless dation’s president, Hassan records of the pilots, air traf-
knots (523 mph, 842 kph) at ince. The plane was car- there is evidence of a prob- Shahidi, said of the 737-800. fic control discussions and
around 30,000 feet when rying 123 passengers and lem with the model. China’s air-safety record other topics.
it entered a steep dive nine crew members, the Boeing 737-800s have been has improved since the Chicago-based Boeing
around 2:20 p.m. local CAAC said, correcting ear- flying since 1998, and Boe- 1990s as air travel has Co. said it was aware of re-
time, according to data lier reports that 133 people ing has sold more than grown dramatically with ports of the crash and was
from flight-tracking web- had been on board. 5,100 of them. They have the rise of a burgeoning trying to gather more infor-
site FlightRadar24.com. The Chinese President Xi Jinping been involved in 22 ac- middle class. Before Mon- mation. Boeing shares fell
plane stopped transmitting called for an “all-out effort” cidents that totaled the day, the last fatal crash of more than 4% in afternoon
data 96 seconds later. by the rescue operation, as planes and killed 612 peo- a Chinese airliner occurred trading in New York.
Local villagers were first to well as for an investigation ple, according to data in August 2010, when an Headquartered in Shang-
arrive at the forested area into the crash and to en- compiled by the Aviation Embraer ERJ 190-100 op- hai, China Eastern is one
where the plane went sure complete civil aviation Safety Network, an arm of erated by Henan Airlines of the country’s top three
down and sparked a blaze safety. the Flight Safety Founda- hit the ground short of the airlines, operating scores of
big enough to be seen State media reported all tion. runway in the northeastern domestic and international
on NASA satellite images. 737-800s in China Eastern’s “There are thousands of city of Yichun and caught routes serving 248 destina-
Hundreds of rescue work- fleet were ordered ground- them around the world. It’s fire. All 44 people on board tions. q

Anti-corruption Guatemalan judge resigns and flees to the U.S.

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — A sidered key in fighting cor- resignation on Monday conversation from Wash- against impunity and cor-
Guatemalan judge con- ruption announced her and that she has decided ington, where she fled. ruption,” Aifán said.
to leave the Central Ameri- Aifán is the latest case of One of Aifán’s most recent
can country. other Guatemalan judges cases was an investigation
Judge Erika Aifán has pre- and prosecutors who have about alleged illegal fund-
sided over corruption cases left the country in recent ing to Giammattei’s presi-
against businessmen, offi- months after the govern- dential campaign in 2019.
cials, judges and lawmak- ment had started investi- The President has denied
ers, and she was recently gations or even looking to any wrongdoing.
overseeing an investigation arrest those who oversee The U.N. and the U.S. gov-
about alleged irregularities corruption cases. ernment had criticized and
during current President Aifán said she had felt par- condemned in the past
Alejandro Giammattei’s ticular pressure from Gua- what they have considered
campaign. She has been temalan Attorney General “harassment” of the judge.
pursued by her own col- Consuelo Porras, whose In July 2021, the U.S. gov-
leagues and she faces at visa was canceled by the ernment announced the
least 20 legal complaints U.S. government because suspension of its coopera-
for allegedly overstepping, of corruption concerns. tion with Guatemala’s At-
something she denies. “She has manipulated torney General’s Office in
Guatemalan judge for high risk crimes Erika Aifan poses for a “They left me no other op- the Prosecutor’s office, response to the firing of its
photo at her courtroom in Guatemala City, Nov. 8, 2019. tion,” she said to The As- prosecuting those of us then top anti-corruption
Associated Press sociated Press on a phone who have worked to fight prosecutor.q