A China Eastern Boeing 737 with 132 onboard crashed and caused a mountain fire in South China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the number of casualties is not clear yet, the official website of Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said on Monday afternoon.
This is the first air crash in China since a fatal incident in Yichun, Northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province back in 2010.
The plane, MU 5735 took off from Kunming Changshui airport in Southwest China’s Yunnan Province at 13:15, and was scheduled to arrive at Guangzhou, South China’s Guangdong Province at 15:07.
The plane has 132 onboard, including 123 passengers, and nine crew members.
CAAC has dispatched a working group to the site.
At present, rescue teams have been deployed and are approaching the crash site, Xinhua reported.
China Eastern Airlines could not be reached for comment as of press time.
Around 3pm Monday, the Wuzhou Fire Brigade deployed a rescue team to the scene of the accident, an official from the Brigade told the Global Times on Monday.
“We sent 25 fire engines and 117 firefighters to the scene, but as the accident site is too remote and in the mountains, fire engines could not reach the wreckage, firefighters entered on foot,” said an official of the Brigade via phone.
The first deployment of firefighters has already arrived on the scene, with backup available if needed, the Brigade said.
The aircraft involved is a Boeing 737, belonging to the Yunnan subsidiary of China Eastern Airlines and has been in operation of just over six and a half years. The plane was delivered in June of 2015.
The aircraft has a total of 162 seats, including 12 business class seats and 150 economy class seats.
As of February 19, 2022, the continuous safe flight time of China’s civil aviation transport aviation had exceeded 100 million hours, representing the best safety performance in the history of China’s civil aviation industry and the best continuous safe flight record in the history of civil aviation worldwide.
Shares of China Eastern Airlines plummeted more than 10 percent in US trading premarket.
File Photo:IC
