China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 crashes with 132 people on board

Asia-Pacific, News March 21, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

The flight MU5735 crashed in the mountains of southern China

A Chinese passenger plane with 132 people on board crashed in southern China on Monday. The plane crash was described as the country’s worst aviation disaster in two decades.

The flight MU5735 crashed in the mountains of southern China en route from the city of Kunming to Guangzhou, China’s Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said. Chinese state media said the flight was carrying 123 passengers and nine crew members.

Hundreds of firefighters and rescue teams have been sent to the scene after the Boeing 737 plane went down near Wuzhou in Guangxi, state broadcaster CCTV said.

Videos published by China’s People’s Daily showed thick smoke above a forest with pieces of the plane scattered on the ground. A villager told Chinese media that he heard a “huge explosion” at about 2:40 p.m. and after driving to the scene of the crash, he did not see any victims or their remains.

Data from flight-tracking website FlightRadar24 showed the plane losing speed and altitude before it crashed. The plane had been cruising at an altitude of 29,100 feet at 0620 GMT. Two minutes and 15 seconds later, it had descended to 9,075 feet. In another 20 seconds, the last tracked altitude was 3,225 feet.

*^{Flight path of China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735 that crashed on March 21, 2022. (Image Credit: Flightradar24/Twitter)}*

If all passengers on board are confirmed dead, the crash will be China’s deadliest since 1994 when a China Northwest Airlines flight crashed in Xian, killing 160 people. Since then, China introduced strict safety guidelines and a fleet of new planes that made air accidents rare in the last two decades.

The last major plane crash in China was reported in 2010, when a Henan Airlines regional jet, overshot the runway and burst into flames, killing 44. The pilot was sentenced to three years in jail on charges of negligence.