Taiwan jet twice lost altitude

Rescue workers continue to recover the remains of victims

BEIJING, China (CNN) -- Radar data from Chinese authorities show that the doomed China Airlines CI611 flight bound for Hong Kong experienced two abnormal drops in altitude before it crashed last weekend.

The information came from Liu Yajun, a traffic control expert at the Beijing-based Chinese Civil Aviation Association, who told Chinese-run Hong Kong daily Wen Wei Po about the sudden and as yet unexplained drops experienced by the Boeing 747-200.

The lead came after Chinese authorities on Sunday gave Taiwan a copy of radar data detailing the last moments of CI611, which broke up in midair shortly after take-off from Taipei on May 25, killing all 225 passengers and crew on board.

So far 102 bodies have been found, with 97 identified, including 41 males and 56 females, according to the China Airlines website. Ninety-six bodies have been sent back to Taiwan and claimed by the families.

Last Thursday, Taipei had put in a request to Beijing for radar data on the downed aircraft in a bid to piece together its final moments.

Civilian and military units in China's coastal Fujian Province routinely monitor commercial and other flights on the other side of the Strait.

Set aside differences

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Two Taiwanese officials traveled to Beijing on Sunday to collect the data, before returning to Taiwan via Hong Kong, according to the official China Daily.

The information sharing was a landmark effort for the two nations, as Beijing set aside its differences with Taiwan, which it regards as a renegade province, which must be taken by force if necessary.

Wang Suh-yun, deputy director of the Taiwan-based Cross-Straits Economic and Trade Association, and Taipei legislator Mu Ming-chu praised China's efforts.

The radar data from mainland China was able to capture the speed, altitude and other relevant data about Flight CI-611, according to Liu.

Taiwan is also keen to get any data recorded near sea-level so as to better track the fall of the debris and locate the wreckage.

Mainland China has also helped by sending fishing boats to help retrieve bodies and recover wreckage.

Nose section

With improved weather over the weekend, six search ships begun trying to recover the aircraft's flight data and voice recorders, believed to be about 67 meters (220 feet) under water, and have possibly located the plane's nose.

Until now, choppy seas and poor visibility have delayed search and recovery operations in the large area of the Taiwan Straits where the plane came down.

A week after the crash, less than one percent of the aircraft's fuselage has been recovered, leaving investigators still puzzled over the cause of the crash.

Several theories have emerged but officials say evidence so far does not confirm any of them.

The crew reported no problems before the crash, indicating that whatever happened to the aircraft happened quickly and without warning.

Crash theories

Friends and relatives pray after the crash

One theory is that structural problems or a sudden cabin depressurization caused the break up of jetliner, which the airline planned to retire from its fleet next month.

Another theory is that the plane's cargo or fuel tanks exploded, causing it to break up.

Air traffic control radar showed that one chunk of the jet shot backward at a high speed, as if propelled by a blast. The other three parts kept going forward.

U.S. experts who investigated the mid-air explosion of a Trans World Airlines Boeing 747 in 1996 have joined the investigation to help find out why the aircraft broke up at an altitude of 30,000 feet and plunged into the ocean.

The slow pace of the investigation and recovery of bodies has caused anger among families of the victims, many of whom have hit out at the government over China Airlines' poor safety record.(China Airlines' troubled history)

Last week's crash was China Airlines' fourth fatal accident since 1994.

On Friday, the government moved to cement its control of the airline.

Transport minister Lin Lin-san said he would become chairman of the state-controlled China Aviation Development Foundation, which owns 71 percent of the carrier, to oversee and expedite privatization of the airline.

The foundation's nine board members resigned en masse on Friday.