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Voice recorder in crashed copter found

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-04-15 11:23

SHANGHAI -- China's civil aviation authorities said Wednesday they had retrieved the cockpit voice recorder of a helicopter that crashed near Shanghai Sunday after taking off from China's Antarctic exploration ship, Xuelong.

The crashed helicopter from China's Antarctic exploration ship "Xuelong" is lifted from the Yangtze River at Sunday night, April 12, 2009. [Xinhua]

"The recorder has been found and authorities are decoding and analyzing the data hoping to pinpoint the cause of the crash," said a spokesman with the East China Regional Administration of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

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A joint investigation team of the CAAC and domestic aviation companies found the device in the wreckage of the helicopter Tuesday, he said.

The cockpit voice recorder is part of the black box and records voices of the crew, conversations between the crew members and air traffic controllers on the ground, as well as abnormal voices in the cockpit.

The helicopter was not equipped with a flight data recorder, another crucial component of the "black box", the spokesman said.

Four crew members, all men, were aboard the helicopter when it crashed in the East China Sea near the estuary of the Yangtze River at midday Sunday. Three were rescued, but mechanic Yang Yongchang is missing.

The search for Yang was continuing Wednesday.

The ship-born helicopter flew more than 153 hours during a 173-day Antarctic expedition before arriving in Shanghai on Friday.