Northern Airlines Plane Crash may Have Been Sabotage

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, September 04, 2002

Northern Airlines Plane Crash may Have Been Sabotage

China Northern Airlines said Wednesday the crash of one of its planes earlier this year that killed all 112 people on board may have been caused by a deliberate act of sabotage.

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China Northern Airlines said Wednesday the crash of one of its planes earlier this year that killed all 112 people on board may have been caused by a deliberate act of sabotage.

The carrier's comments about the May 7 tragedy involving an MD-82 airliner on its way from Beijing to the northern port city of Dalian came amid speculation that a passenger had carried a bomb onto the plane.

"The crash must have had some external cause, and possibly was an act of sabotage," an official at the carrier's administrative office in Beijing told AFP.

"Our analysis is based on the fact that it wasn't a technical problem with the airplane and it wasn't the pilot's fault," he said.

Flight CJ 6136 plunged into the ocean minutes before it was scheduled to land in Dalian, killing 103 passengers and nine crew members.

Shortly before the crash, the pilot reported a fire in the rear cabin, and wreckage that was retrieved later showed a fierce blaze on board.

The China Northern official said that while the crash could have been caused by an "evil-doer" among the passengers, he would not speculate how he or she might have brought it about.

"Police are still investigating the cause of the accident," he said.

The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post newspaper Wednesday quoted unnamed airline sources as saying the plane was brought down by a bomb carried by one of the passengers.

The crash was the second in less than a month involving Chinese airlines. On April 15, an Air China flight crashed in Busan, South Korea, killing 129 people.

The disasters came at a sensitive time, amid plans for the biggest overhaul of China's aviation sector in years.

As part of the plan, China Northern will merge along with Xinjiang Airlines into China Southern Airlines, one of the nation's largest carriers.

The merged company will become one of three national giants, each of which will end up with assets of around six billion dollars and a fleet of about 200 planes, according to reports.

Source: Agencies

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