A China Eastern Airlines plane with 132 people on board crashed on Monday (21) in mountains in the south of the Asian country. According to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), the aircraft had departed Kunming for Guangzhou.
According to information from state broadcaster CCTV, the number of victims is still unknown and should be updated as emergency services gain access to the scene. The plane was a Boeing 737, and there is no information about the cause of its crash.
CAAC said the aircraft, which was carrying 123 passengers and 9 crew, lost contact with flight controllers while flying over the city of Wuzhou.
Airspace monitoring website FlightRadar24 indicates that the flight departed Kunming at 1:11 pm local time (2:11 am GMT). Communication with the aircraft was lost at 14:22 (3:22) at an altitude of 3,225 feet (about 983 meters) and at a speed of 376 knots (approximately 700 km/h).
The safety record of the Chinese airline industry has been among the best in the world over the past decade. According to the Aviation Safety Network database, the last fatal aircraft accident in China occurred in 2010. At the time, an Embraer E-190 aircraft from Henan Airlines crashed in the vicinity of Yichun airport due to poor visibility; 44 of the 96 people on board died.
One of the most serious accidents in the country’s history happened 30 years ago. In 1991, a China Southern 737-300 plane, flying from Guangzhou to Guilin, crashed during landing, killing all 141 passengers.
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