THE flight data recorder of the Zimbabwe-registered cargo plane that crashed Saturday in Shanghai has been found, Chinese aviation control authorities said Sunday.
However, experts said decoding of the data recorded in the "black box" would not necessarily ascertain the cause of the accident.
Three staff died and four others were injured after the cargo plane caught fire and crashed at the Shanghai Pudong airport Saturday.
The four injured, who are in stable conditions in the People's Hospital of Pudong New Area of the city, are from the United States, Indonesia, Belgium and Zimbabwe.
On Sunday morning, the No. 1 runway at the airport was being repaired. When the destroyed lighting facilities on the ground are restored, the local aviation authorities will dispatch professionals to make safety check on the runway.
It will resume operation after the check proves it's up to security criteria.
The crashed MD-ll plane belonged to the Avient Aviation, a freight charter airline based in Zimbabwe.
It was scheduled to fly from Shanghai to the Bishkek Manas International Airport in Kyrgyzstan.
The three dead have been confirmed to be American by US Embassy spokesman Richard Buangan.
China's official Xinhua news agency has reported one crew member is critically injured and three are in a serious condition.
A man, said to be the 61-year-old American co-pilot, has appeared on Shanghai television saying "Thank you" to staff and officials from a hospital bed.
The TV report said the other crew members were from Indonesia, Belgium and Zimbabwe.
An official at Avient's Harare office said the flight was operated out of its UK office and could not say what cargo was on board.
More than 30 international flights were delayed, leaving about 4,000 travellers stranded on planes or in airport lounges, Xinhua said.
Click here for more pictures of the crash scene
