A Boeing 737 operated by China Eastern Airlines, with 132 people on board, has crashed in southern China, local media reported Monday.
According to preliminary information, the plane was flying from the city of Kunming to Guangzhou, while the fatal accident occurred near the prefectural city of Wuzhou, in the south of the country.
The accident caused a fire on a mountain in the Guangxi region, and a rescue team was dispatched to the disaster area.
At the moment, no information has been provided on possible victims or injuries. The nature of the incident is yet to be determined, collects CGTN.
The outlet reported, citing local officials, that the fire in the area has been extinguished. In parallel, it was announced that a total of 450 forest firefighters are heading to the scene.
The accident was later confirmed by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). “On March 21, 2022, a China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 lost contact over Wuzhou during the Kunming-Canton flight. It has now been confirmed that the plane crashed. There were 132 people on board: 123 passengers and nine crew members,” it reads. the body’s statement.
“The Civil Aviation Administration activated the emergency mechanism and sent a task force to the scene,” reports CAAC.
An unconfirmed video that supposedly shows the exact moment of the accident, when the aircraft loses control and falls abruptly, was broadcast on the networks.
According to data from FlightRadar24, the flight departed from Kunming at 05:11 GMT and was due to land in Guangzhou at 07:05. The flight tracking ended at 06:22 at a height of 3,225 feet (983 meters) with a speed of 376 knots (about 696 km/h).
China’s airline industry security has been among the best in the world for the past decade. Until now, the last fatal accident dated back to 2010, when an Embraer E-190 regional plane operated by Henan Airlines crashed on approach to Yichun airport in poor visibility.
