Seven-day operation was demanding and difficult, he says

Members of the rescue team search the crash site for the black boxes from flight MU5735 and pieces of aircraft wreckage and debris. (NANNING FIRE AND RESCUE TO CHINA DAILY)

Search and rescue work at the crash site of a China Eastern Airlines plane has ended, an official said on Thursday. Rescuers like Teng Xingwen can finally breathe after what he described as an intense mission.

The national emergency response headquarters dispatched more than 34,000 search and rescue personnel, 216 fire engines, 16 unmanned drones and 30 sets of construction machinery to the site in Tengxian county, Wuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. The team recovered both black boxes from flight MU5735 and 49,117 pieces of aircraft wreckage and debris, said Zhu Tao, head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China's Aviation Safety Office.

Teng Xingwen's legs sink deep in the mud while participating in the search and rescue operation at the crash site of flight MU5735 in Tengxian county, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, in March. (NANNING FIRE AND RESCUE TO CHINA DAILY)

Workers searched more than 400,000 square meters in the core area and excavated 22,700 cubic meters of earth, he added.

The flight was heading to Guangzhou, Guangdong province, from Kunming, Yunnan province, when it crashed into a mountainous area in Tengxian on March 21. The national emergency response headquarters confirmed on Saturday that all 132 people on board had died.

Teng (front), assigned to the rope team, was responsible for searching steep, difficult slopes. (NANNING FIRE AND RESCUE TO CHINA DAILY)

Teng, 28, was part of the first team sent to the site. He said he was copying notes at the duty station in Nanning, Guangxi's capital, on the afternoon of the accident when he heard the alarm ring. His captain asked him to pack and leave for Wuzhou.

"It was only once we were on the way that I learned what had happened on my phone, and I had the feeling I was getting involved in something huge. I only had one thought, that as long as there was even a glimmer of hope, I should work a hundred times harder," he said.

Rescuers move a piece of aircraft wreckage down the slope together. (NANNING FIRE AND RESCUE TO CHINA DAILY)

The team arrived at 9 pm and pitched tents while waiting for orders. Teng called his mother that night, breaking down in tears as he told her that he was at the crash site and was helping with the rescue.

The team began searching the mountainside in the early hours of the morning. As they got close, Teng said that he saw aircraft debris scattered "like snowflakes" everywhere. Dressed in protective suits, the rescuers wore diapers to avoid having to take off the suits to relieve themselves. "It was my first time wearing adult diapers, and I felt a little embarrassed," Teng said.

Members of the rescue team search a slope overgrown with vegetation. (NANNING FIRE AND RESCUE TO CHINA DAILY)

He was assigned to the rope team, which was responsible for searching steep, difficult slopes. The weather made rescue work harder. On the night of March 23, a thunderstorm hit, with heavy rain falling all night. The following day, the team was told to expand the search area and to spare no effort in locating the plane's black boxes. As Teng was searching the lower slopes of the mountain, his legs sank deep into the mud and he had to be tugged to safety by his captain.

He said it was hot and stuffy and that many of the rescuers showed symptoms of heatstroke. When they took off their boots, the sweat "poured out like rainwater".

Members of the rescue team assemble at a duty station in Nanning before leaving for the search mission. (NANNING FIRE AND RESCUE TO CHINA DAILY)

"After a day of work, my goggles were all misted up and pressed down uncomfortably on my nose and ears. The best moment all day was getting the chance to down a large bottle of mineral water," he said, adding that every evening when they returned to the station, they were too exhausted to eat.

"Even though it was very hard, we gritted our teeth and persevered. We were all thinking 'hang in there a little longer, try to find the black boxes'," he added.

Rescuers file across the mountainside in a line. (NANNING FIRE AND RESCUE TO CHINA DAILY)

The first black box was found on March 23, and the second on Sunday. Both have been sent to Beijing for decoding. On Sunday afternoon, a memorial ceremony for the victims was held at the site of the search and rescue operation. At 2 pm, vehicle horns echoed through the fields, while some relatives of the victims stood in silence for three minutes facing the direction of the crash.

Teng and his team returned to Nanning later that day.

Chen Yang contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at zhangyangfei@chinadaily.com.cn