China Eastern Airlines plane crash, the fate of 132 passengers remains unknown

A China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737, on route from Kunming in Yunnan province to Guangzhou in Guangdong Province, crashed in Wuzhou county, Guangxi province, sparking a wildfire. The cause of the accident and injuries were not immediately known.

A total of 132 people were on board, including 123 passengers and nine crew members, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said Monday. The official Chinese Central Television reported that the plane crashed in the mountains near New Right village in Langnan Town, Wuzhou Teng County.

According to flightradar24.com, the Boeing 737-89P single-aisle jet was on flight MU5735 when it departed at 13:11 Beijing time (05:11 GMT) on Monday. It was due to arrive at 15:05 (07:05 GMT) but contact was lost at 14:22. The plane was flying at an altitude of 3,225 feet (982 meters), the website said.

People’s Daily Online, an affiliate of the Communist Party’s People’s Daily newspaper, published video of the aftermath of the crash, which it suspects was filmed by local residents.

The official Xinhua News Agency quoted Boeing China as saying the company was gathering more information.

Boeing has been plagued by safety problems with the 737 Max, and the China Eastern jet was part of the 737-800 family. According to Chinese media reports, the plane was less than seven years old.

It was China’s worst air disaster in more than a decade.

China Eastern Airlines has confirmed that people were killed in the crash, but has not given a number or whether there were any survivors.

China Eastern said in a statement, “The company is deeply saddened by the loss of passengers and crew.”
The statement added that the cause of the crash was “still under investigation” and that the company would “actively cooperate.”
China Eastern official website home page changed to black and white. China Eastern airlines said it has launched an emergency response mechanism and opened a special line for emergency assistance to family members.
China Eastern airlines has confirmed that all passengers and crew on flight MU5735 were Chinese nationals

After the incident, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for all-out search and rescue efforts, proper handling of the aftermath, and enhanced screening of potential safety hazards in civil aviation.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang called for all-out efforts to search for survivors, do everything possible to treat the injured, properly handle the aftermath, provide comfort and services to the bereaved families, seek truth from facts, release information in a timely and accurate manner, find out the cause of the accident, and take strong measures to strengthen management of civil aviation safety.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China, the Ministry of Emergency Management and other relevant departments have sent working teams to the scene, and rescue teams from Guangxi and Guangdong have rushed to the scene to participate in the rescue.

China Eastern Airlines, which owns the plane, grounded all of its 737-89ps as a safety precaution and canceled most of its flights Monday.

As search and rescue efforts continue, they are limited by a number of factors.
According to Chinese state media, the crash site is surrounded by mountains on three sides and is accessible only by a single path, making it difficult to access large equipment. And the site is not electrified, visibility is poor.

Tengxian county is expected to cool and rain tonight, which may also affect the search and rescue site, the report said.

China Eastern Airlines Group, headquartered in Shanghai, is one of China’s three largest state-owned air transport groups, along with Air China and China Southern Airlines.

China Eastern Airlines is the world’s sixth-largest airline by weekly planned seat capacity and the largest in China, Reuters reported this month, citing aviation data provider OAG.

China’s aviation industry has expanded rapidly over the past two decades, and the Country’s civil Aviation administration announced in late February that it had logged 100 million hours of sustained safe flight, which officials stressed was “the best sustained safe flight record in the history of world civil aviation”.

The last serious domestic aviation disaster in China dates back to August 2010, when an Embraer ERJ190 operated by Henan Airlines crashed in Yichun, Heilongjiang Province, killing more than 40 people.

In 1994, a Northwest China Airlines Tupolev Tu-154 flying from Xi ‘an to Guangzhou crashed after takeoff, killing all 160 people on board in what the Aviation Safety Network reported was China’s worst-ever air disaster.

The most recent incident involving an international flight to China was the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in March 2014. The plane disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing, China, with 239 people on board, most of them Chinese nationals.
MH370 has not been found.