The recovery of the second black box from the wreckage of a China Eastern Airlines Corp. jet potentially gives investigators their best opportunity to find out why the plane carrying 132 people entered a high-altitude nosedive and speared into the ground.
The flight-data recorder, which was buried some 40 meters from the main crash site near Wuzhou in southern China, was unearthed Sunday morning. State media reported the device has been sent to Beijing for analysis.
Much now depends on how well the black box withstood the impact of the March 21 crash. The Boeing Co. 737-800 NG appears to have largely disintegrated, and more than 33,700 pieces of debris have been recovered. Chinese state media said the crash left a crater 20 meters deep.