China Northern Airlines Flight 6163 departed Beijing, China, at 20:37, for a planned one hour and three minutes flight to Dalian. As the aircraft was descending towards Dalian, the flight crew reported a fire on board. Contact was lost at 21:32 hours. The aircraft impacted the sea, 20 km off Dalian. All 112 occupants were killed in the accident. The cockpit voice recorder was recovered from the sea on May 14, followed by the flight data recorder on May 18, 2002. This MD-82 was built in China under licence from McDonnell Douglas by Shanghai Aviation Industrial Corporation (SAIC). Authorities blamed the crash on a fire set by a passenger who bought seven insurance policies before boarding the flight, insuring his life for $170,000. He had brought one or more water bottles filled with gasoline on board and ignited the gasoline on board the aircraft.