Rescue workers work at the site where a China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 plane flying from Kunming to Guangzhou crashed, in Wuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China March 24, 2022.
Rescue workers work at the site where a China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 plane flying from Kunming to Guangzhou crashed, in Wuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China March 24, 2022. Reuters / CARLOS GARCIA RAWLINS

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said on Friday its team of three investigators has departed for China to participate in the Chinese investigation of the March 21 crash of a China Eastern Airlines flight of a Boeing 737-800 jet that killed 132 people.

The NTSB said "investigators will limit interactions with those outside of investigation similar to safety protocols at Beijing Olympics, which will allow them to begin work immediately without a quarantine."

The team includes the U.S. accredited representative Sathya Silva, who is an NTSB senior aviation accident investigator

An NTSB spokesman said the U.S. team was traveling on a commercial flight. It was not clear if team will travel to the crash site in China and for how the long team will be in China but it could be several weeks.

The NTSB also said a small team from Boeing is also traveling China to assist in the investigation.

The plane crashed into a mountainside in southern China in mainland China's deadliest aviation disaster in 28 years. Recovery crews on Sunday found the second black box - the flight data recorder - in the wreckage.

Under an international agreement, the NTSB has the right to participate since the plane was designed and built in the United States.

On Thursday, Chinese state media the cause of the crash must be determined as soon as possible, following a meeting of China's highest decision-making body helmed by President Xi Jinping.

Information about the crash must be released in an open, timely and transparent manner, state media said in a report on the meeting of the seven-person Standing Committee of the Communist Party's politburo, China's top leadership.

A nationwide safety inspection should also be launched to prevent as much as possible the occurrence of safety accidents, state media said. If accidents do happen due to negligence, not only will the personnel in charge be punished, the relevant top officials will also be investigated, state media said.