One of the black boxes from the China Eastern Airlines Boeing jet with 132 people aboard that crashed in the southern part of the country on Monday has been recovered, rescue authorities said Wednesday.

But a fire official said there is less chance of survival for those aboard as search and rescue operations have been hampered by bad weather and the harsh mountainous terrain of the crash site in China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Photo taken in 2017 in Kunming in Yunnan Province, China, shows the China Eastern Airlines Boeing jet that crashed on March 21, 2022, in the southern part of the country. (VCG/Getty/Kyodo)

Wreckage from the airplane and some human remains were recovered, the authorities said.

The B737-800, bound for the southeastern city of Guangzhou from Kunming in Yunnan Province, reportedly lost radar contact two minutes after it suddenly descended from its cruising altitude of around 8,900 meters.

The authorities said no survivors were found after the crash, and the black box located at the site may be the cockpit voice recorder. China has said there were no foreign nationals on board.

Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines, one of the nation's three major air carriers, owns more than 700 Boeing and Airbus jets under the SkyTeam alliance. It has suspended all flights of its B737-800s following the crash.


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