A China Eastern flight MU5735 (Boeing 737) with 132 people on board, crashed today in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, South China. It is unclear if anyone or some survived.
The flight MU5735 originated from Kunming Changshui Airport, Yunnan Province, Southwest China, at 1:15 pm. It was scheduled to reach Guangzhou, South China, at 3:07 pm.
As per Chinese media, rescue teams have been deployed to the accident site.
After taking off from Kunming airport, the flight was cruising at an altitude of about 8869 meters. But at 2:19 p.m, the aircraft suddenly descended from cruising altitude, and its flight speed also began to decrease. At 2:21, The flight MU5735 lost its ADS-B radar signal, and also lost contact with the ground.
Horrifying visuals, reportedly of the crash site have emerged on social media.
This is the first air crash in China since a fatal incident in Yichun, Northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province back in 2010.
The plane, which Flightradar24 said was six years old, had been cruising at an altitude 29,100 feet at 0620 GMT. Just over two minutes and 15 seconds later, data showed it had descended to 9,075 feet.
In another 20 seconds, its last tracked altitude was 3,225 feet, indicating a vertical descent of 31,000 feet per minute, Flightradar24 said.
Online weather data showed partly cloudy conditions with good visibility in Wuzhou at the time of the crash.
President Xi Jinping called for investigators to determine the cause of the crash as soon as possible and to ensure “absolute” aviation safety, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
Shares of Boeing Co were down 6.4% at $180.44 in premarket trade. Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Shares in China Eastern Airlines in Hong Kong closed down 6.5% after news of the crash broke, while its U.S.-listed shares slumped 17% in premarket trading.
