International

China plane crash kills all on board

DALIAN (China) MAY 8. A flotilla of ships plucked corpses from the sea today after China's second major air disaster in a month as the airline told relatives all 112 passengers and crew on the stricken plane were dead including an Indian.

China Northern Airlines, in a statement handed to relatives the day after its flight from Beijing to Dalian plunged into the Yellow Sea, snuffed out the last faint hopes of relatives and confirmed grim expectations of rescuers hunting for survivors.

It brought wails of grief from family members who had been put up by the airline in hotels in the northeastern city of Dalian since news of the Tuesday evening crash emerged overnight.

``There's no more hope left. The airline told us all of them went down in the sea,'' said Dalian resident, Wang Jingao, whose wife Liu Meina, 47, was aboard the flight.

He trailed off, his voice cracking.

``They are all gone. We are all very sad. We never imagined that this would ever happen,'' said Tang Yucheng, 62, who lost his long-time friend Liu Qi.

The plane plunged into the Yellow Sea after reporting fire in the cabin.

Would-be rescuers on board the flotilla of boats that spent the day plucking corpses and wreckage from the sea said they had come to the grim conclusion early on that there would be no survivors.

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