Metro
Plane crashes in China with 133 people on board [PHOTOS]
Reports have it that, casualties are still unknown as a China Eastern passenger jet carrying 133 people crashed in rural countryside near Wuzhou city, Guangxi region, South-West China.
The plane Boeing 737 “caused a mountain fire,” as it crashed on Monday just as CCTV had reported, citing the provincial emergency management bureau. Rescue teams were deployed to the scene.
CCTV said a “China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 plane carrying 133 people has crashed in Teng county, Wuzhou, Guangxi, and caused a mountain fire”.
Local media reported that China Eastern flight MU5735 had not arrived at its scheduled destination in Guangzhou after it took off from the city of Kunming shortly after 1:00 pm (0500 GMT) Monday, citing airport staff.
There was no immediate response from China Eastern when contacted by AFP.
Based on TopNaija’s findings, the weather was cloudy but visibility was reported to have been good at the time of the crash.
The plane dropped thousands of metres in three minutes, flight tracker data showed.
According to FlightRadar24 data, the plane was cruising at 29,100 feet but two minutes and 15 seconds later it was recorded at 9,075 feet. The last sourced information on the flight showed it ended at 14:22 local time, at an altitude of 3,225 ft.
The Boeing 737-800 plane was seven years old, according to tracker websites. It’s the predecessor model to the Boeing 737 Max line, which were the planes involved in deadly crashes in Indonesia in 2018 and Ethiopia in 2019.
Boeing issued a statement on the crash of MU5735, saying: “We are aware of the initial media reports and are working to gather more information.”
