Liu Xiaodong, head of China Eastern's publicity department, said whether the airline will publish the passenger manifest depends on the wishes of the passengers' relatives.

"Some airlines choose to publish the manifest after accidents on international flights so they can establish contact with the relatives of the passengers from different countries. Since China Eastern was able to reach the relatives of all the passengers within 24 hours of the crash, we will fully respect their will and privacy in deciding whether to publish the manifest."

By 10 am Friday, 375 relatives of passengers had come to the crash site to pay their respects. The collection of DNA samples from the passengers' direct relatives has been carried out, Zhu said.

In addition to searching for survivors, another key task is to recover the second of the two flight recorders, or black boxes, from the Boeing 737-800 at the crash site near the village of Molang, Tengxian county, Zhu said.

The cockpit voice recorder, was found on Wednesday near the point of impact, and it has been sent to a laboratory in Beijing for decoding and analysis.

"We plan to excavate the core area of the crash site in an attempt to find the other black box," Zhu said. The search team is making its best efforts to find the aircraft's flight data recorder, he said, because information on it would offer vital clues to the cause of the crash.

As required by international standards, a preliminary report in Chinese and English on the tragic accident must be sent to the International Civil Aviation Organization within 30 days of the crash, Mao Yanfeng, director of the CAAC's disaster investigation agency, said.