Officials reported a Chinese Eastern Boeing 737-800 carrying 132 people crashed in a remote mountainous area of southern China on Monday, igniting a forest fire visible from far away in the country’s biggest air accident in over a decade.
There had been no word of survivors more than seven hours after communication with the plane had been lost.
According to the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration, the disaster occurred near the city of Wuzhou in the Guangxi area. According to the report, the aeroplane was flying from Kunming in Yunnan’s southern region of Yunnan to the east coast industrial metropolis of Guangzhou.
Villagers were the first to arrive at the forested region where the jet crashed, causing a flame seen on NASA satellite images. Hundreds of rescue workers from Guangxi and adjacent Guangdong provinces were quickly mobilised.
The jet was carrying 123 passengers and nine staff members, according to the CAAC, revising earlier claims that there were 133 people on board.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged for the rescue operation to make an ‘all-out effort,’ as well as an investigation into the incident and full civil aviation safety.
State media stated that all 737-800s in China Eastern’s fleet had been ordered grounded, while CCTV said that the airliner had formed nine teams to deal with aircraft disposal, accident investigation, family help, and other critical issues.
Both the CAAC and China Eastern stated that personnel had been dispatched to the crash site in accordance with emergency procedures.
According to state media, at 2:30 p.m., local police got calls from people alerting them to the crash (0630 GMT). The contact with the jet was lost at 2:15 p.m., according to the Guangxi province emergency management department (0615 GMT).
Boeing Co., based in Chicago, stated that it was aware of the initial reports of the disaster and was ‘trying to obtain further information.’ Boeing stock fell more than 8 percent in pre-market trading early Monday.
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