54 survivors, 42 dead in China plane crash

BEIJING: A Chinese airliner smashed into two while attempting to land in heavy fog, leaving at least 42 people dead but 54 survivors in the country's first major air disaster in nearly six years.

The Henan Airlines domestic flight was carrying 96 people including five crew members when it slammed into the ground late on Tuesday near the airport in the northeast city of Yichun, in remote Heilongjiang province, state media said.

Forty-two people were killed, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of China (CAAC), which reportedly had highlighted past technical problems with the model of plane involved -- an ERJ-190 jet made by Brazilian company Embraer.

On Wednesday, rescuers combed through the charred wreckage while the survivors -- mainly from the disembodied plane's front cabin -- were being treated in four local hospitals, the Xinhua news agency said.

The plane's captain was among the survivors, but he had severe facial injuries and was unable to talk, Xinhua said.

Among those on board were several officials from China's Ministry of Human Resources. A CAAC official said the agency was not sure if there were foreigners on board, but the list of victims included only Chinese names.

At Yichun's Lindu airport, located in a forested area about nine kilometres (five miles) outside the city, rescuers were transferring victims' bodies wrapped in silver bags to funeral homes for identification, Xinhua said.

Some passengers were thrown out of the cabin before the Embraer plane's turbine jet hit the ground. The smouldering wreckage of the plane came to rest two kilometres (a mile) from the runway. Cabin debris, books and rubbish were scattered across the muddy crash site.

Wang Xuemei, the vice mayor of Yichun who oversaw the rescue efforts, said most of the survivors had suffered broken bones. The cause of the crash was unclear but teams have found the plane's black box flight data recorder.

The crash was China's first major air disaster since a China Eastern Airlines jet crashed in Inner Mongolia in November 2004, killing 53 people on board and two on the ground.