China Eastern Airlines: what we know about the Guangxi plane crash
A passenger plane with 132 people on board has crashed in a mountainous region of southern China.
The China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 was flying from Kunming to Guangzhou when it came down in hills in Guangxi province and caught fire, according to reports.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China said the aircraft lost control over the city of Wuzhou, reported Sky News. According to FlightRadar24 data, the tracking for flight MU5735 from Kunming to Guangzhou ended with the plane at an altitude of 3,225ft with a speed of 376 knots (432mph).
The BBC said it is feared there are no survivors, but the number of casualties – and reason for the crash – is not yet known. Photos and videos on social media show plane debris strewn around the hills, and smoke billowing from the crash site.
Emergency services and rescue crews have been sent to the crash site. A fire in woods caused when the aircraft came down has been put out.
The jet was a six-year-old Boeing 737-89P, according to flight data trackers. The Guardian said that Boeing 737-800s are among the most common passenger planes in the world, and different to the 737 Max, which was grounded worldwide after fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019.
The website for China Eastern Airlines has been changed to black and white, a step airlines often take in response to a crash as a sign of respect for the victims.
Airline accident fatalities in 2021 more than halved from the previous year but, noted Flight Global, comparisons with pre-pandemic numbers are of limited value because of the marked reduction in commercial airline activity due to Covid.
The only fatal accident involving a large passenger jet came in January when Sriwijaya Air Flight 182, a Boeing 737-500 passenger flight from Jakarta to Pontianak, Indonesia, crashed into the Java Sea off the Thousand Islands, killing all 62 people on board.
Article source: https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/world-news/956156/china-eastern-airlines-guangxi-plane-crash