Ukraine war: Trapped in Chernigiv, no let-up as Russian forces continue to advance

After more than four weeks of conflict, intense fighting was reported in a number of places on Saturday, suggesting there would be no swift let-up

Russian advance preventing evacuations from Chernigiv; control of town where workers at defunct Chernobyl nuclear plant live


Reuters
Published: Mar, 2022

A man walks among the debris of a burning house after a Russian attack in Ukraine. Photo: AP

The mayor of a war-scarred town in northern Ukraine said Saturday that the slow advance of Russian troops means that large-scale evacuations from the town are no longer possible. Chernigiv has been a centre of fighting between Russian troops and Ukraine’s army since Moscow sent troops into its pro-democratic neighbour just over one month ago.

Earlier this week, city officials said Russian troops had deliberately targeted a key bridge linking the northern town with the capital Kyiv, restricting opportunities to leave. “City officials can no longer arrange humanitarian corridors or evacuate the wounded,” Chernigiv mayor Vladislav Atroshenko told reporters, adding that a pedestrian crossing leaving the city was under “constant” attack from Russian troops.

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“We are deciding on how to get the seriously injured out by any means. We can’t operate on them locally,” he said, saying some 44 people, both military and civilians were in need of medical attention.

He said that more than 200 civilians had been killed in the city since Russian forces invaded Ukraine on February 24, and that 120,000 remain in the city of an estimated pre-invasion population of nearly around 280,000.

Chernigiv’s damaged city centre after a Russian air raid in Ukraine. Photo: AP


Russian forces also took control of a town where workers at the defunct Chernobyl nuclear plant live, the governor of Kyiv region said on Saturday, and fighting was reported in the streets of the besieged southern port of Mariupol.

After more than four weeks of conflict, Russia has failed to seize any major Ukrainian city and on Friday Moscow signalled it was scaling back its military ambitions to focus on territory claimed by Russian-backed separatists in the east.

A Ukrainian couple near the remains of a building destroyed by Russian shelling. Photo: dpa

However, intense fighting was reported in a number of places on Saturday, suggesting there would be no swift let-up in the conflict, which has killed thousands of people, sent some 3.7 million abroad and driven more than half of Ukraine’s children from their homes, according to the United Nations.

Russian troops seized the town of Slavutych, which is close to the border with Belarus and is where workers at the Chernobyl plant live, the governor of Kyiv region, Oleksandr Pavlyuk, said.

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He added that the soldiers had occupied the hospital and kidnapped the mayor. The reports could not be independently verified.

Slavutych sits just outside the so-called exclusion zone around Chernobyl – which in 1986 was the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster – where Ukrainian staff have continued to work even after the plant itself was seized by Russian forces soon after the start of the February 24 invasion.

Odesa falls silent as troops fortify Ukrainian city and residents flee fearing Russian advance

Authorities in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, have announced a new 35-hour curfew in the city. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the curfew will run from 8pm local time on Saturday to 7am on Monday, with local residents allowed to leave their homes only to get to a bomb shelter.

Klitschko said that shops, pharmacies, gas stations and public transport will not be operating during the curfew.

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for CHERNOBYL 

CENSORSHIP IS...
YouTube removes channel of Russian prankers Vovan, Lexus after hoaxing UK Ministers

ANI
26th March 2022, 

Moscow [Russia], March 26 (ANI/Sputnik) - YouTube removed the channel of Russian hoaxers Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexey Stolyarov, known as Vovan and Lexus, respectively, where footage of prank telephone calls with UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace and Home Secretary Priti Patel was published.

"The YouTube account associated with this video has been terminated," a YouTube message read.

The prankers claim that they managed to hold a video call with Wallace on March 17 while impersonating Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal. They have published eight clips from the conversation, which include the discussion of the status of Ukraine in NATO, arms supplies and involvement of foreign mercenaries in the conflict, as well as a possibility of Kyiv acquiring nuclear weapons.

On March 17, Patel tweeted that she had also been hoaxed. On March 25, prankers released footage of them tricking Patel into a video call. Again posing as Shmyhal, the due asked the minister whether UK families would feel secure allowing Ukrainian nationalists and neo-Nazis inside, to which Patel said that they are not.

On February 24, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk appealed for help in defending themselves against Ukrainian forces. In response to Russia's operation, Western countries have rolled out a comprehensive sanctions campaign against Moscow. 

(ANI/Sputnik)

Israeli, Palestinian women call to revive peace talks

Hundreds meet by Dead Sea to call on political leaders to work toward peace

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Published: MARCH 26, 2022 1

Hundreds of Israeli and Palestinian women held a meeting at the Dead Sea on Friday
(photo credit: WOMEN WAGE PEACE)

Hundreds of Israeli and Palestinian women met by the Dead Sea on Friday to encourage their leaders to launch negotiations toward a political agreement ensuring a future of freedom, peace and security for both peoples.

The Israeli women were represented by Women Wage Peace, the largest grassroots movement in Israel with 50,000 registered members. The movement was granted special consultative status to the United Nations and works to promote political solutions with the Palestinians.

The Palestinian women were represented by a movement called Women of the Sun, founded last July. Its members come from different parts of the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

They met at Neve Midbar Beach, at the northern end of the Dead Sea.

Over the past few months, the Israeli and Palestinian women have held a series of meetings and formulated a “joint platform,” which reflects the sensitivities on both sides and respects their needs, challenges and capabilities.

THE MARCH OF HOPE, organized by Women Wage Peace, makes its way to the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem last week. (credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)

The two movements say that they are not affiliated with any particular political party.

“We believe that the majority of the people of our nations share our mutual desire. Therefore, we demand that our leaders listen to our call and promptly begin peace talks and negotiations, with resolute commitment to achieving a political solution to the long and painful conflict, within a limited time frame,” the women proclaimed in their platform.

“We are calling on the peoples of both nations – Palestinian and Israeli, and peoples of the region – to join our call and demonstrate their support for the resolution of the conflict,” they wrote. “We are calling on our leaders to show courage and vision in order to bring about this historic change, to which we all aspire. We join hands with determination and partnership to bring back hope to our peoples.”

Over the next year and a half, the Israeli and Palestinian female activists are planning to hold a series of joint activities to demonstrate the strength of both movements.

“We hope that this partnership between Women of the Sun and Women Wage Peace will be the first step toward a just peace and security to put an end to war and destruction. We want to live respectfully and peacefully,” said Aaisha Faras, one of the founders and leaders of Women of the Sun.

“Today no less than a historic event took place. It began with a small group of courageous Palestinian women, who in a short time succeeded in enlisting over 1,000 supporters. Young women and older women who, together with us, decided to stop being silent and to create another path,” Yael Admi, one of the founders and leaders of Women Wage Peace said, summing up the event.

“The time has come for a courageous leadership to create a reality of peace and a different future for our children.”

BECAUSE OF COURSE THEY DO...

Russia conducts military drills on isles disputed with Japan -media
2022/3/26 

(Reuters) - Russia was conducting drills on islands claimed by Tokyo, Japanese media said on Saturday, days after Moscow halted peace talks with Japan because of its sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Russia's Eastern Military District said it was conducting military drills on the Kuril islands with more than 3,000 troops and hundreds of pieces of army equipment, Russia's Interfax news agency said Friday.

It did not say where on the island chain, connecting Russia's Kamchatka peninsula and Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido, the drills were taking place. Japanese media said they were on territory the Soviet Union seized at the end of World War Two that is claimed by Tokyo.

Japan's Foreign Ministry and Prime Minister's Office could not be reached outside business hours to comment on the exercises.

The territorial dispute over the four islets - which Russia says are part of its Kuril chain and which Japan calls its Northern Territories - has prevented Tokyo and Moscow from reaching a peace treaty formally ending hostilities.

Japan reacted angrily on Tuesday after Russia withdrew from long-running treaty talks and froze joint economic projects related to the islands, in retaliation for Japan joining Western sanctions over Moscow's month-old invasion.

Russia's exercises involved repelling amphibious warfare, including destroying defence aircraft carrying troops and testing skills to operate fire control systems of anti-tank guided missiles, Interfax said.

"In addition to this, units of the Air Defense Forces are carrying out a set of measures to detect, identify and destroy aircraft of a mock enemy that would carry out an airborne assault," the agency cited the District's press service as saying.

(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Additional reporting by Junko Fujita in Tokyo; Editing by William Mallard)

Charting the Global Economy: Factory Costs Surge From Russia War

Molly Smith and Vince Golle, Bloomberg News

Workers assemble bridge ventilators at Boyce Technologies Inc. in Long Island City in the Queens borough of New York, U.S., on Thursday, April 23, 2020. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasioannouncedin a press release a city-convened effort to produce a new line of bridge ventilatorsto support local hospitals by supplementing limited ventilator resources and to help shore up the New York City Strategic Reserve for future crises. , Photographer: Bloomberg/Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) --

Manufacturers around the world are facing even higher costs as Russia’s war in Ukraine enters its second month, threatening to push decades-high inflation up even more.

With those kinds of price pressures, the standard of living in the U.K. is falling at the fastest pace in at least six decades. Russians are feeling the pain of Vladimir Putin’s war as prices for basic goods like sugar shot up 14% in just a week, and its economy is set to undo more than a decades-worth of growth by the end of next year. 

Here are some of the charts that appeared on Bloomberg this week on the latest developments in the global economy: 

World 

Factories from Australia to Europe are seeing already surging costs jump further as Russia’s war in Ukraine and the barrage of sanctions rolled out in response roil commodity markets and trade. While the relaxation of pandemic restrictions helped overall business activity weather the initial shock from the invasion, dwindling confidence is threatening economic growth in the coming months.

Workers in Europe’s biggest economies are among the least likely to be seeking pay rises in the next year, despite feeling some of the biggest pressures from rising prices. It may allay concerns at central banks about the potential for an inflationary spiral in wages.

Emerging Markets

The inflation shock upending Russia’s economy has shown little sign of letting up, increasingly spreading to basic goods from onions to tea after supply disruptions and the ruble’s collapse that followed the invasion of Ukraine. In a single week, the price of sugar increased as much as 37.1% in some Russian regions and rose nearly 14% on average nationwide.

Russia is set to erase 15 years of economic gains by the end of 2023 after its invasion of Ukraine spurred a multitude of sanctions and prompted companies to pull out of the country, according to the Institute of International Finance.

Mexico’s central bank confirmed its latest interest-rate hike hours after President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced the half-point increase, an unprecedented disclosure that raised questions about Banxico’s independence.

U.S.

Where can the world quickly turn to for more oil? The answer, it turns out, isn’t the traditional powerhouse of OPEC or the promising new offshore fields of Brazil. Instead, the weight of the oil world is falling squarely on the shoulders of a few counties tucked into lonely corners of the U.S. Southwest.

The pandemic pushed millions of older Americans out of the labor force. It should have spawned a surge in Social Security benefits applications — but it hasn’t. Perhaps because they aren’t retired.

Europe

U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak unleashed a set of tax cuts on Wednesday designed to appeal to his Conservative Party, but still left Britons facing the worst squeeze on living standards in at least six decades.

Asia

Congestion in the key Chinese ports of Shenzhen and Hong Kong due to Covid-19 lockdowns has risen to the highest level in five months, posing possible delays to goods heading to the U.S. this summer. There were approximately 174 vessels anchored or loading off the South China hubs, the largest number since Oct. 21, when the region dealt with the aftermath of Typhoon Kompasu.

China’s government stockpiled a record amount of cash in the first two months of the year instead of spending it, despite numerous pledges by top officials to speed up fiscal stimulus to boost the economy.

Sign up for the New Economy Daily newsletter, follow us @economics and subscribe to our podcast.

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

France Wants Care Home Firm Orpea to Return Funds: Minister

Angelina Rascouet, Bloomberg News

(Bloomberg) -- The French government is filing a legal complaint against Orpea SA and wants the elderly care home operator to return millions of euros in public funds it believes were misused.

“The State is filing a complaint,” Brigitte Bourguignon, the junior minister for elderly policy, said in an interview Saturday on France Inter radio. It follows two government probes into mistreatment at Orpea’s care homes that found “serious dysfunctions,” she added.

France will seek to get back money awarded to the company that was not properly used for the care of the elderly, she added. Those funds represent “various millions of euros,” she said.

Orpea has been embroiled in a scandal for the past two months following the publication of a book called “The Gravediggers” by investigative journalist Victor Castanet that described care home residents’ mistreatment. 

“There were flaws on the human side and the organizational side” as well as in the company’s finances, said Bourguignon. 

Orpea shares have lost almost 60% of their value since the start of the year. The first extracts of the book were published in Le Monde on Jan. 24.

The company didn’t immediately reply to an email and call requesting comment outside of normal business hours.

©2022 Bloomberg L.P

Amazon Games Studio Head Frazzini Steps Down

Jason Schreier and Priya Anand, Bloomberg News

(Bloomberg) -- Mike Frazzini, a longtime Amazon.com Inc. employee who helped start Amazon Game Studios, is stepping down. The executive told staff Friday he was leaving to focus on his family, said Amazon spokesman Ryan Jones.

Amazon Game Studios was an expensive endeavor for the e-commerce giant, costing hundreds of millions of dollars a year, but for years failed to produce hit games. Frazzini, who previously worked in the books section of Amazon, was a relative game novice when he became head of the division. Some employees had criticized him for veering too far from game-making’s traditional playbook, Bloomberg reported last year.

The company did have a breakout hit this fall, with its release of online PC game New World. At a conference soon after the game's release, Amazon Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy said that gaming could become the company’s largest entertainment category. Following New World's warm reception, former Amazon boss Jeff Bezos tweeted: “After many failures and setbacks in gaming we have a success. … Don’t give up no matter how hard it gets.”

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

India Asks Power Firms to Import Coal on Electricity Demand

Suvashree Ghosh and Rajesh Kumar Singh, Bloomberg News

A freight train laden with coal stands on the tracks in Paradeep, Odisha, India, on Monday, May 6, 2019. Authorities launched 

a massive restoration-and-relief effort after Cyclone Fani left a trail of damage in eastern India and Bangladesh. 

Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- India asked power manufacturers to keep importing coal to meet increasing demand for electricity even as prices of the fossil fuel surged.

The power companies need to resolve issues related to rising prices and stick to the power-purchase agreement, the Ministry of Power said in a statement on Saturday. 

“Not maintaining adequate fuel stocks or not giving availability on any pretext (such as high price of imported coal etc.) is inexcusable,” the government said.

Coal’s Comeback in India Shows Scale of Climate Challenge

Key coal prices hit record levels in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as utilities in Europe, along with other major consumers, hunt for alternatives to cargoes from Russia. The fossil fuel contributes nearly 70% of India’s electricity supply and most Indian power producers import the dirty fuel to blend with local coal to generate electricity.  

“It is requested that necessary action may be taken to import coal in transparent and competitive manner for blending purpose based on demand assessment and to deal with any shortfall of coal availability,” the government said.

Coal Surges 35% in One Week on Warning Supplies Are Sold Out

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

In Hiroshima, Japan PM, US envoy warn Russia over nuclear threat

US ambassador Rahm Emanuel (left) and Japanese PM Fumio Kishida

 at the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, on March 26, 2022. 

PHOTO: AFP

TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's Prime Minister and its United States ambassador warned Russia against the use of nuclear weapons during a visit on Saturday (March 26) to Hiroshima, the site of an atomic bomb attack in World War II.

Their warning comes after Moscow on Tuesday refused to rule out deploying its nuclear arsenal, saying it could be used in the Ukraine war if Russia faced an "existential threat".

Japanese leader Fumio Kishida and ambassador Rahm Emanuel visited a peace memorial park and museum, where the US diplomat called Russia's position "unconscionable".


Around 140,000 people died when Hiroshima was bombed in 1945, a toll that includes those who survived the explosion but died afterwards from radiation exposure.

Three days later, Washington dropped a plutonium bomb on the Japanese port city of Nagasaki, killing about 74,000 people and leading to the end of World War II.

The US remains the only country ever to have used nuclear weapons in conflict.

Mr Emanuel issued a statement condemning Moscow's position.

"The history of Hiroshima teaches us that it is unconscionable for any nation to make such a threat," he said. "We live in unprecedented times as Russia threatens the use of nuclear weapons, something that was once unthinkable, even unspeakable."

Mr Kishida said "the horrors of nuclear weapons must never be repeated".

Days after Russian troops invaded Ukraine last month, President Vladimir Putin announced he had placed Moscow's strategic nuclear forces on high alert, in a move that sparked global alarm.

"We have a concept of domestic security, and it's public. You can read all the reasons for nuclear arms to be used," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told CNN Tuesday.

"So if it is an existential threat for our country, then it can be used in accordance with our concept."

MU5735 UPDATED

China Says No Trace of Explosives Found in Jet Crash Samples

Bloomberg News, Bloomberg News

(Bloomberg) --

China said it hasn’t found any evidence of explosive materials in the wreckage of a flight that crashed with 132 people on board.

“Lab tests taken of 66 samples, 41 of which have been completed, showed no major common inorganic explosive or common organic explosive substances have been found,” fire official Zheng Xi said at a briefing in the southern city of Wuzhou on Saturday.

Zhu Tao, an official with the Civil Aviation Administration of China, added that investigators found a transmitter installed close to a missing black box, but haven’t found the flight data recorder itself.

Some 24,000 pieces of wreckage have been retrieved, officials said, and remains of 120 people have been identified. The search is focused on an area with a radius of 300 meters (330 yards) from the main crash site, though part of a wingtip was found 12 kilometers away.

Mud, Confusion and Tears Amid Search for Jet Crash Answers

Rescue officials at the press briefing described a difficult search of the crash site, and showed pictures of investigators slogging through mud. The China Eastern Airlines Corp. 737-800 NG crashed in the southern region of Guangxi on March 21 while flying from Kunming to Guangzhou.

The plane plummeted from its cruise altitude of 29,000 feet, leveled off once and then appeared to fall straight down. Chinese state media have said the plane crash left a crater 20 meters deep.

Nothing Fits in Plane Crash Mystery: Next China

A China Eastern Airlines spokesman attended the briefing on Saturday, saying that it’s been difficult to meet all the needs of relatives of the passengers on the flight.

Many of the relatives are staying at a hotel near the crash site, officials have said.

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

Chinese search team yet to find second black box from China Eastern plane crash

Rescue workers at the site of the plane crash on March 24, 2022. 

BEIJING (REUTERS) - Chinese emergency workers have not found the second black box from the China Eastern Airlines plane that crashed this week with 132 people on board, officials said on Saturday (March 26).

But they have found an emergency location transmitter from the plane that had been close to where the second black box - the flight data recorder – had been installed, Mr Zhu Tao, director of the Aviation Safety Office of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, told reporters.

The team is also seeking the data module from the flight data recorder itself.

The other black box, the cockpit voice recorder, was found on Wednesday and has been sent to Beijing for examination by experts.

Flight MU5735 was travelling from the south-western city of Kunming to Guangzhou on the coast on Monday when the Boeing 737-800 plummeted from cruising altitude to crash in a heavily forested area of Guangxi region.

No survivors have been found.

A total of 120 people have been identified from samples taken from the site, said Mr Zheng Xi, head of Guangxi’s fire and rescue department.

None of the main components of common explosives were detected in the crash debris, he said.



Core site of China Eastern plane crash to be excavated as rescue work continues

Experts are working on an excavation plan for the core site. 

PHOTO: REUTERS

PUBLISHED
MAR 25, 2022

NANNING (XINHUA) - The core site of the recent plane crash in south China will be excavated as all-out efforts are made to continue searching for survivors and the second black box, officials said at a news briefing on Friday (March 25).

Field exploration and shallow surface excavation have been carried out at the core crash site in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, said Mr Zhu Tao, head of the aviation safety office of the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

Experts are working on an excavation plan for the core site, Mr Zhu said, adding that DNA samples are being taken from relatives of the missing passengers.

The China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 aircraft carrying 132 people crashed on the afternoon of March 21 in a mountainous area of Guangxi's Tengxian County.

No survivors have been found so far. One black box has already been recovered.

The search and rescue scope has been expanded to nearly 200,000 square metres, and more than 2,200 people have joined the rescue efforts, said Mr Lao Gaojin, the vice- mayor of Wuzhou City that administers Tengxian.

China jet's nosedive from 29,000 feet baffles crash specialists

Flight MU5735 was at about 29,000 feet altitude when it started plunging at a far greater rate than normal. 

PHOTOS: SCREENGRAB FROM OALEXANDERDK/TWITTER, PEOPLE'S DAILY 

MAR 22, 2022

BEIJING (BLOOMBERG) - The China Eastern Airlines jet was flying a normal route to Guangzhou when it suddenly nosed over at cruise altitude and dove. That is about all that is known for certain about the unusual crash that killed all 132 people aboard the aircraft on Monday (March 21) in China's worst aviation accident in more than a decade.

While there have been a handful of crashes in which an airliner plunged from cruising altitude, few, if any, fit the extreme profile of the Boeing 737-800 as it pointed steeply towards the ground, according to veteran crash investigators and previous accident reports.

"It's an odd profile," said aviation safety consultant and former 737 pilot John Cox. "It's hard to get the airplane to do this."

As investigators search for the plane's two crash-proof recorders and begin poring over clues, they will be trying to determine why the jet made such an abrupt and severe dive, which sets it apart from earlier accidents.

They will be looking at the weather the plane encountered, whether the pilots made any distress calls, any hints in the wreckage of possible malfunctions and detailed profiles of the crew.

Flight MU5735 was at about 29,000 ft altitude roughly 100 miles from its destination - about the point at which the pilots would begin descending to land - when it started plunging at a far greater rate than normal.

Instead of gradually dropping by a few thousand feet per minute - which produces a barely detectable sensation for passengers - it began falling at more than 30,000 ft per minute within seconds, according to tracking data logged by Flightradar24.

Overall, it plunged almost 26,000 ft in the span of roughly one minute, 35 seconds, the data track showed. The plane's dive appeared to have halted for about 10 seconds and it climbed briefly, adding an unusual twist to the scenario. But the Flightradar24 track, which is based on radio transmissions from the plane, then showed it resuming a steep plunge.

"It's very odd," said former accident investigation chief for United States Federal Aviation Administration Jeff Guzzetti.

While cautioning that the Flightradar24 data is preliminary, Mr Guzzetti and Mr Cox said the relatively straight track taken by the jet and the fact that its transponders were still broadcasting suggests that it did not break up in flight, as has been seen in some terrorist bombings.

Surveillance video

A surveillance video appearing to capture the plane in its final moments showed it in a steep dive towards the ground. Chinese media outlet The Paper said it had verified that the video was shot by a mining company near where the jet impacted, but its authenticity could not be independently verified.

There are precedents in which airliners suddenly began dropping from cruise altitude, but most of them have important differences, investigators said.

For example, Air France Flight 447, which went down in the Atlantic Ocean on June 1, 2009, fell much slower and more erratically after speed sensors iced up and pilots became confused, according to France's Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety. All 228 people aboard the Airbus SE A330 died.

Though it went down from a much lower altitude, an Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings cargo jet dove suddenly into a marsh near Houston on Feb 23, 2019. In that case, the co-pilot became disoriented and pointed the nose towards the ground, the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found. Its descent occurred over a much shorter period of time and it was not falling as fast the China Eastern plane.

Another crash that was similar occurred on Dec 19, 1997, when a pilot on a Silk Air 737-300 carrying 104 people dove into a river in Indonesia, killing everyone aboard. It was falling at more than 38,000 ft per minute, according to that nation's National Transportation Safety Committee.

A pilot most likely crashed that plane deliberately, the NTSB concluded. But Indonesian investigators and Singapore police said there was insufficient evidence to prove that.

Too soon for conclusions

It is far too early to draw conclusions on what led to the China Eastern crash, said former NTSB investigator Benjamin Berman, who also flew 737s. It is possible to come up with many scenarios for some type of malfunction, pilot miscues or some combination that led to the plunge, he said said. But none of them seem very likely.

He echoed what Mr Cox and Mr Guzzetti said - The 737-800, like other jetliners, is designed so that it will not normally dive at steep angles. That means it would likely take an extreme effort by a pilot or a highly unusual malfunction, he said.

Many things can cause at least the start of a dive - from a pilot suffering a heart attack and slumping onto the control column to a failure of the motor used to help raise and lower the nose. But they would tend to be more short-lived or there are easy ways for pilots to counteract such failures, he said. "You need something to hold the nose down," Mr Berman said.


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