Black box of crashed Chinese flight, found

Search teams have found a black box from the China Eastern flight which nosedived into mountains in southern China this week, state media report.

Chinese aviation officials announced the finding at a press conference on Wednesday, after two days of searching.

Authorities are still yet to report the number of dead, but it is feared none of the 132 people onboard survived the high-altitude crash.

Investigators still do not know why the plane plummeted out of the sky.

Mao Yanfeng, director of the civil aviation accident investigation department, told reporters there had been "no dangerous weather" on the plane's route at the time of the crash.

At the same press conference, China Eastern Airlines chairman Sun Shiying said the plane had been deemed airworthy and had met required maintenance standards, reported Xinhua.

The crash is likely China's most deadly aviation incident in three decades, and has prompted a national outpouring of grief.

President Xi Jinping has called for a full-scale investigation, and the government has dispatched hundreds of rescuers, soldiers, experts and other workers to the site in the remote hillside regions of Guangxi province.