WASHINGTON, March 22 ― The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said yesterday it had appointed a senior air safety investigator as a US accredited representative to the investigation of the crash of a China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 near Wuzhou, China.

Representatives from Boeing, CFM, a joint venture of General Electric and Safran that produced the engines, and the Federal Aviation Administration will serve as technical advisers, the NTSB added.

Under an international agreement, the United States can serve as a representative to the crash probe since the plane was manufactured in the United States.

It is not clear if or when the NTSB will travel to the crash site in China. Read full story

The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

After a 2018 Boeing 737 MAX crash in Indonesia, the NTSB immediately dispatched investigators to Indonesia to participate in the Indonesian government's investigation.

Then NTSB Chair Robert Sumwalt said in 2019 testimony before Congress that during the search for the "black boxes” ― flight data recorder (FDR) and cockpit voice recorder (CVR) ― "an NTSB investigator was stationed onboard one of the search vessels.” ― Reuters