Data unit on second flight recorder in good shape, officials say

The data storage unit for the second black box of China Eastern Airlines MU5735 survived the impact and remained in relatively good shape, while other parts of the device were severely damaged, an official said on Sunday.

The unit has been sent to professional laboratories for decoding, Zhu Tao, head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China's aviation safety office, said at a news conference.

The device - believed to be the flight data recorder - was recovered at about 9: 20 am Sunday. It was buried 1.5 meters underground and about 40 meters from the main crash point, he said.

The first black box of the plane - the cockpit voice recorder - was recovered on Wednesday. The data downloading and analysis work of the first black box is underway.

All people onboard the China Eastern Airlines jet - 123 passengers and nine crew members -were confirmed dead on Saturday night.

Flight MU5735 crashed into a mountain in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region on Monday afternoon. The jet left Kunming, capital of Yunnan province, at 1:11 pm Monday and was scheduled to arrive in Guangzhou, Guangdong province at 3:05 pm.