Search teams find more bodies, edge closer to black box recorders in Penghu

Search teams have recovered more bodies and possibly located the nose of a China Airlines Boeing 747-200 that broke apart in mid-air and crashed into the sea a week ago, killing 225 people -- officials said yesterday.

"A surveillance ship today discovered wreckage which we suspect is the nose of the plane," vice transport minister Oliver Yu (游芳來) told reporters.

Salvage operations will begin if photographs confirm the wreckage is the nose of the 23-year-old aircraft, Yu said.

The weather cleared yesterday and six search vessels set out to retrieve flight CI 611's two "black box" data recorders, the nation's top aviation safety official, Kay Yong (戎凱), told reporters. Choppy seas and bad weather had delayed salvage efforts.

The watertight cockpit-sound and flight-data recorders, located in the tail of the aircraft, should help investigators determine the cause of the crash.

Only 101 bodies and one percent of the aircraft have been recovered and the black boxes are on the ocean floor, about 67m under water.

Aviation experts have floated several theories for the crash, including metal fatigue, an internal explosion, sudden loss of cabin pressure, a mid-air collision or a military accident.