Friday May 31, 2:27 am Eastern Time Reuters Company News Resignations accepted in Taiwan jet crash By Benjamin Kang Lim TAIPEI, May 31 (Reuters) - Taiwan's cabinet on Friday accepted the resignations of the chairman and eight directors of the agency that controls China Airlines following the crash of a Boeing 747-200 which killed all 225 passengers and crew. Victims' families have vented their anger at the government over the appalling safety record of Taiwan's largest carrier and delays in retrieving bodies and wreckage from Saturday's disaster. The 23-year-old, Hong Kong-bound airliner broke into four pieces at 30,000 feet and plunged into the Taiwan Strait. Only 97 bodies and one percent of the aircraft have been recovered and the black box flight data recorders are on the ocean floor. The cause of the crash is still a mystery. Tsay Jaw-yang, 61, chairman of the nominally private China Aviation Development Foundation which owns 71 percent of the airline, and eight other directors had offered to resign. "Their resignations will give impetus to reform of the Aviation Development Foundation and management of China Airlines," minister without portfolio Tsay Ching-yen told a news conference. Tsay and the foundation came under fire in parliament on Thursday over China Airlines' fourth fatal accident since 1994. More than 650 people have been killed. He resigned as transportation minister in 1998 after a China Airlines Airbus carrying holidaymakers back from Bali crashed near Taipei airport, killing 196 aboard and seven on the ground. Tsay bounced back from the political wilderness last July when he was appointed chairman of the aviation foundation by the Democratic Progressive Party (DDP) government. The awkward ownership structure of China Airlines through the foundation has been widely blamed for paralysing management and making reforms almost impossible. Three days after the crash, Premier Yu Shyi-kun pledged to privatise the carrier within two years. China Airlines shares ended down five percent at T$12.35 after falling the daily seven percent limit on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Kay Yong, Taiwan's top aviation safety official, said divers stood by on Penghu, near the crash site, on Friday to try to retrieve more wreckage and flight CI 611's two data recorders, which are about 67 metres (220 feet) under water. The recorders were located early this week but choppy seas and bad weather have delayed salvage efforts. "The weather condition today is bad. We don't know if we can send divers down to retrieve the black boxes," Yong said. Aviation experts have floated several theories for the crash, including metal fatigue, an internal explosion, sudden loss of cabin pressure, a mid-air collision or a military accident. A victim's son confronted President Chen Shui-bian on Penghu asking for help in getting justice from China Airlines. "The president promised to help," Lee Han told reporters. "We will join hands with other victims' relatives to demand compensation and punish China Airlines." --------------------------------- Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup