Search at China plane crash site suspended amid rain

Relatives of passengers onboard the China Eastern Flight 5735 leave the area near its crash site on Wednesday March 23 2022 (Ng Han Guan/AP)

The search for clues into why a passenger jet suddenly dived and crashed into a mountain in southern China was suspended as rain soaked the debris field and filled the red-dirt gash formed by the plane’s fiery impact.

Earlier on Wednesday, searchers used hand tools, drones and sniffer dogs in rainy conditions to comb the heavily forested slopes for the flight data and cockpit voice recorders, as well as any human remains.