China Eastern passenger plane crashes in Guangxi
The aircraft had been travelling from Kunming to Guangzhou, and was carrying 132 people onboard when it went down in the southeast of the country
A China Eastern Airlines passenger jet has crashed in the mountains of Guangxi province, China, according to a statement released by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).
The aircraft, a Boeing 737-800 designated as flight MU5735, was carrying 132 people onboard when it crashed, including 123 passengers and nine crew.
Flight MU5735 took off from Kunming at 13:11 (05:11 GMT) and was scheduled to arrive in Guangzhou at 15:05 local time.
The aircraft crashed in a mountainous, wooded area near Wuzhou, approximately 200km west of its final planned destination, with state media reporting that the resulting explosion has set the surrounding forest on fire.
Rescue crews have been deployed to the scene; however, the number of casualties is currently unknown. CAAC stated that it has also ‘activated its emergency response mechanism’ and has deployed a ‘working group’ of personnel to the crash site.
Data from FlightRadar 24 record that the flight was last tracked at 14:22 flying at an altitude of 983m.
A similar aircraft, a Boeing 737-500 operated by Sriwijaya Air, crashed into the Java Sea near Jakarta in January 2021, killing all crew and passengers onboard.