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France 24
France 24
World

China Eastern Airlines Boeing jet crashes in China, state media says

A Chinese airliner crashed in the southern province of Guangxi on Monday, state media has reported. © Flight radar, FRANCE 24 screen grab

A China Eastern Airlines aircraft with 132 people on board crashed in the mountains in southern China on Monday while on a flight from the city of Kunming to Guangzhou, state media reported.

The jet involved in the accident was a Boeing 737 aircraft and the number of casualties was not immediately known, CCTV said. Rescue was on its way, it said.

There was no word on the cause of the crash of the plane, a 6-year-old 737-800 aircraft, according to Flightradar24.

The China Eastern flight from Kunming to Guangzhou departed at 1:11 p.m. (0511 GMT), FlightRadar24 data showed. The flight tracking ended at 2:22 p.m. (0622 GMT) an altitude of 3225 feet with a speed of 376 knots.

It had been due to land at 3:05 p.m. (0705 GMT).

The safety record of China's airline industry has been among the best in the world over the past decade.

According to Aviation Safety Network, China's last fatal jet accident was in 2010, when 44 of 96 people on board were killed when an Embraer E-190 regional jet flown by Henan Airlines crashed on approach to Yichun airport in low visibility.

(FRANCE 24 with AP, REUTERS)

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