China

China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 crashes

China

Beijing — A China Eastern passenger jet carrying 132 people crashed in southern China on Monday, aviation authorities said. China's state-run media said the crash led to a fire on a mountain and an unknown number of casualties.  

China

The Boeing 737 flight from Kunming city to the southern hub of Guangzhou "lost airborne contact over Wuzhou" city in the Guangxi region, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said in an online announcement. 

China

At present, it has been confirmed that this flight has crashed," the CAAC said, adding that it had activated its emergency response and "dispatched a working group to the scene." The plane was carrying 123 passengers and 9 flight crew members, the CAAC said. 

China

State broadcaster CCTV reported that the plane crashed in Teng county near Wuzhou and "caused a mountain fire," citing the provincial emergency management bureau. The crash site was about 150 miles from the destination of Guangzhou, meaning the aircraft had traveled about 500 miles of its journey. 

China

Flight tracker FlightRadar24 showed no more data for flight MU5735 after 2:22 pm local time, when it had reached Wuzhou. It showed that the plane had sharply dropped from an altitude of 29,100 feet to 3,225 feet in the span of three minutes, before flight information stopped. 

China

After the crash on Monday, the Chinese financial news outlet Yicai, based in the economic hub of Shanghai, reported that China Eastern was going to ground all of its 737-800s pending an investigation, but the airline did not immediately confirm that news. 

China

Fears for the fate of the jet spread on Monday afternoon as local media reported that China Eastern flight MU5735 had not arrived as planned in Guangzhou after taking off from Kunming shortly after 1:00 pm (0500 GMT). 

China

China had enjoyed an enviable air safety record in recent years in a country criss-crossed by newly built airports and serviced by new airlines established to match the country's breakneck growth over the last few decades.