Search at China crash site suspended amid rain

By NG HAN GUAN
Associated Press

WUZHOU, China (AP) — The search for clues into why a Chinese commercial jetliner dove suddenly and crashed into a mountain in southern China has been suspended as rain slickens the debris field and fills the red-dirt gash formed by the plane’s fiery impact. Earlier Wednesday, searchers had used hand tools to comb the slopes for the black boxes, as well as any human remains. Crews also worked to pump water from the pit created when the plane hit the ground, but their efforts were suspended around midmorning because landslides were possible. The plane stopped transmitting data 96 seconds into the dive, and an air-traffic controller who tried to contact the pilots after seeing the altitude drop got no reply.