Flight MU5735 Crash Report Likely In 30 Days As China Ends Search Operation On Site

The search and rescue work at the China Eastern Airlines plane crash site ended Wednesday, with more than 49,000 aircraft fragments being retrieved from the area, officials said in a press release Thursday.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China's (CAAC) preliminary report on the tragedy is expected to be completed in 30 days. The report could likely include analysis of what might have happened to Flight MU5735 in its final minutes on March 21. The plane had crashed into a hillside near Wuzhou in southern China, and all 132 people on board were declared dead.

The 30-day report has to be filed with the United Nations' aviation body -- the International Civil Aviation Organization -- although it was not required to be made public under international rules, Reuters reported.

According to an official from the CAAC, a full report will be released to the public when the investigation is completed. It is usually required to submit the report within a year of the crash. However, it may take longer in rare cases, Bloomberg reported.

Chinese aviation officials said Thursday a core area surpassing 400,000 square meters was searched by teams. The two black boxes and 49,117 pieces of aircraft wreckage were found from the site.

The wreckage is being cleaned up and will be analyzed by forensics. The decoding of the data in both the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder is also underway. Retrieving the data from the black boxes is key to unraveling the mystery behind the crash.

A report by Nanning Radio and Television Station revealed more than ten marriage certificates were found by search and rescue workers at the crash site, according to the Global Times. The remains of the victims were now at the Wuzhou funeral parlor for proper custody. The remains were being identified, and the authorities have not released the passenger manifest, yet.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) tweeted Wednesday a team of U.S. airplane accident investigators and technical experts will likely head to China. The Chinese government has issued visas to investigators, along with technical advisers for the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing, the NTSB said.

The plane nose diving into the ground after a steep descent has left experts baffled as to what led to the incident.