By Martin Quin Pollard

WUZHOU (China) -Recovery teams searched under light rain in search of a second blackbox from a China Eastern Airlines passenger plane. The flight plunged into a mountainside carrying 132 passengers. More information was also available about the pilots.

According to a Civil Aviation Administration of China official, the first black box was found Wednesday. It had been identified as the cockpit voice recorder. Official said that the material was in good shape and had been sent to Beijing for analysis.

A cockpit voice recorder could provide details on communications between flight’s pilots to investigators. It is more information than would normally be required aboard a Boeing (NYSE), 737-800 aircraft.

The plane was on its way from Kunming in the southwest to Guangzhou along the coast Monday. It suddenly fell from its cruising altitude just as it was about to begin its descent.

Flight tracking site FlightRadar24 reports that the plane appeared briefly to be pulling out from its nosedive before plummeting into the Guangxi mountain range in southern China.

Chinese officials claimed that the pilots failed to respond to multiple calls made by air traffic controllers during rapid descent.

Experts say it is still too soon to know the exact cause. Unfortunately, no survivors were found.

According to a China Eastern official, the flight’s captain had 6709 hours experience flying, while first and second officer had respectively 31,769 hours and 556. The airline did not reveal the identities of pilots, but said that one co-pilot was there to observe and build experience.

Phoenix Weekly was published in a pro Beijing TV magazine. The expert identified the captain Yang Hongda (son of a China Eastern captain) and Zhang Zhengping as the first officer. Zhang Zhengping is an experienced pilot who has mentored others pilots for 40 years.

Southern Weekly, an influential Guangdong newspaper that only listed the crew members by their surnames reported Yang (32), had a 1-year-old girl, and Zhang (59), was China’s first commercial pilot with an excellent safety record. Zhang had been due to retire in this year. According to the newspaper, Ni was the surname of the second less-experienced officer.

Jimu News (an arm of Hubei Daily newspaper) identified him as Ni Gongtao at 27.

China Eastern didn’t immediately respond to our request for comment.

On Thursday, mist and low-lying clouds hovered above the tiny hills of the rural area around the crash site.

State media reported that drones had been prepared for deployment in order to inspect the area around the crash site. They also captured images which would be used to assess the damage by experts. To provide night-time lighting, other drones will also be used that are capable of being airborne for longer than 12 hours.

All roads to the site remain closed except for villagers or officials allowed to enter by police.

One kilometre of ambulance vehicles, police cars and military trucks were seen along with buses, emergency vehicles and special vehicles parked in the road shoulder near Molang village.

CGTN footage clearly showed that rescue crews included paramilitary police officers as well as firefighters.

China is leading the crash investigation, but America was also invited because the plane was manufactured and designed there.

On Wednesday, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board stated that it was not certain if investigators will travel to China due to strict quarantine and visa requirements.