A search vessel commissioned by China Airlines (CAL) to help recovery efforts after one of the company's planes crashed into the Taiwan Strait, will arrive at the crash site off Penghu tomorrow.
Nineteen days after the crash, 112 bodies of the 225 people aboard the ill-fated plane have been retrieved. Inclement weather and turbulent seas have hampered the search for the dead, despite the fact that the flight data recorder and the voice recorder -- or "black boxes" -- ?and large chunks of wreckage have been located.
CAL, therefore, solicited the assistance of US-based Global Industries last week, and the company's search ship anchored in Singapore will arrive tomorrow.
CAL said that the ship would start working to retrieve the black boxes and additional wreckage immediately upon arrival.
The company was keen to point out that if bodies are found during the process, their recovery will take priority.
The Cabinet's Aviation Safety Council, which is responsible for the investigation into the crash, said that salvage work has been hampered by high seas and insufficient equipment.
Since the signals being transmitted by the black boxes continue to weaken, the navy will continue to try and salvage them before the arrival of the Global Industries ship.
The Hong Kong-bound flight broke into four pieces some 30 minutes after taking off from Chiang Kai-shek International Airport on May 25, killing all aboard.
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