China stresses risk investigation to strengthen civil aviation safety

BEIJING, March 22 (Xinhua) -- China's civil aviation regulator has called for screening hidden risks to boost civil aviation safety after a passenger plane crashed in the country on Monday.

Concrete measures should be taken to strengthen the investigation of hidden dangers concerning aircraft maintenance, flight weather conditions, personnel qualifications and operational skills, said the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

The CAAC pledged efforts to promote a three-year campaign to improve work safety and strengthen the management of civil aviation safety with effective measures.

It urged air traffic controllers to strengthen timely weather forecasting, the notification of on-site weather changes and dangerous weather alerts.

Airlines should enhance crew collocation, report any abnormal situations in flight and offer their crew timely and necessary technical and decision-making support, the administration noted.

A passenger plane with 132 people aboard crashed in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Monday afternoon.

The China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 aircraft, which departed from Kunming and was bound for Guangzhou, crashed into a mountainous area near Molang Village in Tengxian County in the city of Wuzhou at 2:38 p.m., causing a mountain fire. The rescue is underway.