Received

Nearly 20 Tasmanians who have COVID-19 were incorrectly told they tested negative on their PCR tests.

Tasmania's Health Commander Kathrine Morgan-Wicks has confirmed 19 people were on Tuesday wrongly notified.

The department said the error was corrected within three hours.

Ms Morgan-Wicks said the RHH Laboratory was improving its system to ensure another mistake won't happen.

"On behalf of the Department of Health, I apologise for the error and for any inconvenience caused to the recipients of the incorrect results," she said.

© AAP 2022

Rescuers in southern China have searched for survivors from a China Eastern Airlines jet after it crashed with 132 people on board and authorities say severe damage to the aircraft will make it difficult to establish the cause of the crash.

Flight MU5735 was headed on Monday for the port city of Guangzhou from Kunming, capital of the southwestern province of Yunnan, when it plunged from cruising altitude to crash in the mountains of Guangxi less than an hour before landing time.

A jet appeared to dive to the ground at an angle of about 35 degrees from the vertical in video images from a vehicle's dashboard camera, according to Chinese media.

Reuters could not immediately verify the footage.

No survivors have been found yet, said Zhu Tao, director of aviation safety at the Civil Aviation Administration of China, told reporters.

"The jet was seriously damaged during the crash, and investigations will face a very high level of difficulty," Zhu said at the first government briefing on the disaster.

"Given the information currently available, we still do not have a clear assessment of the cause for the crash," he said, adding that the aircraft did not respond to repeated calls from air controllers during its rapid descent.

On Tuesday, rescuers combed heavily forested mountain slopes in southern China using shovels and torches in their search for victims and flight recorders from the jet that crashed.

About 600 soldiers, firefighters and police marched to the crash site, a patch of about one square km in a location hemmed in by mountains on three sides, after excavators cleared a path, state television said.

It added that the search for the recorders or "black boxes" of the Boeing 737-800 involved in China's first crash of a commercial jetliner since 2010 would be carried out in grid-by-grid fashion, probably through the night.

Si, 64, a villager near the crash site who declined to give his first name, told Reuters he heard a "bang, bang" at the time of the crash.

"It was like thunder," he said.

State television has shown images of plane debris strewn among trees charred by fire.

Burnt remains of identity cards and wallets were also seen.

Rain was forecast in the area this week.

Police set up a checkpoint at Lu village, on the approach to the site, and barred journalists from entering.

Several people gathered for a small Buddhist ceremony nearby to pray for the victims.

The last commercial jetliner to crash in China was in 2010 when an Embraer E-190 regional jet flown by Henan Airlines went down, killing 44 of the 96 onboard.

Highlighting the top-level concern, Vice Premier Liu He went to Guangxi on Monday night to oversee search and rescue operations.

An official of the same rank was similarly sent to the site of the 2010 crash in northeast China.

"That B737-800 jet met airworthiness standards before taking off and technical conditions were stable," Sun Shiying, a China Eastern official, said at the briefing.

"The crew members were in good health and their flying experience was in line with regulatory requirements," he said.

On Monday, China Eastern and two subsidiaries grounded its fleet of 737-800 planes.

The group has 225 of the aircraft, data from British aviation consultancy IBA shows.

© RAW 2022

Rescuers are combing heavily forested mountain slopes in southern China, using shovels and torches in their hunt for victims and flight recorders from a China Eastern Airlines jet that crashed with 132 people on board.

About 600 soldiers, firefighters and police marched to the crash site, a patch of about 1 sq km in a location hemmed in by mountains on three sides, after excavators cleared a path, state television said.

It added that the search for the recorders, or "black boxes", of the Boeing 737-800 involved in China's first crash of a commercial jetliner since 2010, would be carried out in grid-by-grid fashion, probably through the night.

Flight MU5735 was headed on Monday for the port city of Guangzhou from Kunming, capital of the southwestern province of Yunnan, when it plunged from cruising altitude to crash in the mountains of Guangxi less than an hour before landing time.

A jet appeared to dive to the ground at an angle of about 35 degrees from the vertical in video images from a vehicle's dashboard camera, according to Chinese media.

Si, 64, a villager near the crash site who declined to give his first name, told Reuters he heard a "bang, bang" at the time of the crash.

"It was like thunder," he said.

State media called the situation grim, saying the possibility of the deaths of all aboard could not be ruled out.

State television has shown images of plane debris strewn among trees charred by fire. Burnt remains of identity cards and wallets were also seen.

Police set up a checkpoint at Lu village, on the approach to the site, and barred journalists from entering. Several people gathered for a small Buddhist ceremony nearby to pray for the victims.

The last commercial jetliner to crash in China was in 2010, when an Embraer E-190 regional jet flown by Henan Airlines went down, killing 44 of the 96 aboard.

Highlighting the top-level concern, Vice Premier Liu He went to Guangxi on Monday night to oversee search and rescue operations. An official of the same rank was similarly sent to the site of the 2010 crash in northeast China.

The disaster comes as planemaker Boeing seeks to rebound from several crises, notably the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on air travel and safety concerns over its 737 MAX model following two deadly crashes.

Once it is found, the cockpit voice recorder could yield clues to what went wrong with Monday's flight.

"Accidents that start at cruise altitude are usually caused by weather, deliberate sabotage, or pilot error," Dan Elwell, a former head of US regulator the Federal Aviation Administration, told Reuters.

Elwell, who led the FAA during the 737-MAX crisis, said mechanical failures in modern commercial jets were rare at cruise altitude.

The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on Monday appointed an investigator, as the Boeing aircraft was produced in the United States, but it was unclear if the investigator would travel to China.

On Monday, China Eastern and two subsidiaries grounded its fleet of 737-800 planes. The group has 225 of the aircraft, data from British aviation consultancy IBA shows.

As of Tuesday, other Chinese airlines had yet to cancel any flights that use 737-800 aircraft, according to data from Chinese aviation data provider Flight Master.

© RAW 2022