A passenger plane carrying 132 people from China Eastern Airlines crashed in southern China after losing communication with air traffic control and falling thousands of metres in less than three minutes.
There was no instant confirmation of the death toll, but President Xi Jinping issued an unusually rapid public statement, describing himself as “shocked” and ordering a probe into the disaster’s cause.
In a report with the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the airline said it “expresses its heartfelt condolences for the passengers and crew members who died in the plane tragedy.”
There was no news on what caused the plane to crash. The incident “triggered a mountain fire,” according to CCTV, which was later controlled.
According to the Civil Aviation Administration of China, a Boeing 737-800 flight from Kunming to Guangzhou’s southern hub “lost aerial communication above Wuzhou” in the Guangxi region on Monday afternoon (CAAC).
The CAAC stated, “This flight has crashed,” noting that the plane was carrying 123 passengers and nine crew members.
“We are aware of the early media allegations and are attempting to obtain further information,” a Boeing representative said.
Hundreds of firefighters were summoned to the scene in Teng county, near Wuzhou, according to state media, while locals raced to assist in the rescue attempt.
On Monday afternoon, local media reported that China Eastern flight MU5735 had not arrived in Guangzhou as anticipated after taking off from Kunming shortly after 1:00pm, raising fears for the plane’s fate (0500 GMT).
After 2:22 p.m., the flight tracking website FlightRadar24 had no data for the flight.
The jet descended from 29,100 feet to 3,225 feet (8,870 to 982 metres) in three minutes, according to the tracker, before flight information was lost.
China Eastern is one of China’s three major airlines, with a total of 248 destinations served on a number of domestic and international flights.
On Monday afternoon, the airline updated its website to black and white and added an emergency assistance phone number.
According to a January business report, China Eastern’s 751-strong fleet included 289 Boeing 737-series aircraft.
Over the last decade, the country’s airline industry has had one of the best safety records in the world.
The twin-engine, single-aisle Boeing 737 is one of the most popular short- and medium-haul jets in the world.
After two tragic crashes, the 737 Max was grounded all over the world. Late this year, China’s aviation regulator approved the plane’s return to operation, making it the last major market to do so.
According to the Aviation Safety Network, China’s most recent fatal jet accident occurred in 2010, when a Henan Airlines Embraer E-190 regional plane crashed on approach to Yichun airport in bad visibility, killing 44 of the 96 passengers on board.
A China Northwest Airlines crash in 1994 was the deadliest Chinese commercial flight crash, killing all 160 people on board.
According to CCTV, Xi asked for “all efforts” to be made in the rescue and to determine the “cause of the disaster as soon as feasible.”
“We are shocked to learn of the China Eastern MU5735 accident,” he stated, emphasising the importance of “total sector safety and people’s lives.”
