A China Eastern Airlines flight carrying 123 passengers and nine crew members crashed Monday in Teng county, South China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) announced.
The number of casualties remains unknown.
The Boeing 737 passenger jet lost contact over Wuzhou on its way from Kunming, Southwest China’s Yunnan province, to Guangzhou in the southern province of Guangdong, according to the CAAC.
Boeing told Caixin that it is collecting information on the crash.
The flight, MU5735, departed from Kunming Changshui International Airport at 1:15 p.m. and was scheduled to arrive at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport around 3 p.m. The plane began losing altitude around 2:19 p.m. before going into a sharp descent, domestic media Shangyou News reported, citing flight recorder data.
Photos from other media outlets show plane debris scattered across the ground at the scene. A resident of Teng county said villagers heard an explosion around 2:40 p.m., the China News Service reported. He and some fellow villagers then went to the scene and saw wreckage from an aircraft.
The state-run Xinhua News Agency said Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered an immediate emergency response and all-out search and rescue efforts.
Xi also ordered swift action be taken to determine the cause of the crash and improve safety in the airline industry, Xinhua reported.
The emergency management bureau of the city of Wuzhou, which administers Teng county, is organizing a response, according to state media reports.
A contingent of 117 firefighters from the city have arrived at the scene, state media reported. Another 500 firefighters stationed in other cities in the autonomous region, including Guilin and Nanning, have also been dispatched. Neighboring Guangdong province is also sending firefighters to help.
China Eastern Airlines Corp. Ltd. said in a statement that it has launched an emergency response and is sending investigators to the scene. The company has also set up an emergency contact line for relatives of the passengers.
Contact reporter Cai Xuejiao (xuejiaocai@caixin.com) and editor Michael Bellart (michaelbellart@caixin.com)
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