What is known about the crash of China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 – International
3 min readOn Monday (3/21), Chinese authorities confirmed the crash of a China Eastern Airlines plane with 132 passengers on board.
On board were 123 passengers and 9 crew members, according to the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration.
The cause of the accident is not yet known.
A Boeing 737-800 crashed in a mountainous area in Wuzhou. State media reported that the explosion sparked a forest fire. Rescue teams have been sent to the area.
The teams found no signs of survivors.
China Airlines has a good safety record – the last major accident in the country occurred 12 years ago.
The plane crash caused an uproar in China. President Xi Jinping has ordered an investigation to determine the causes of the accident. China Eastern Airlines has grounded all of its 737-800 aircraft.
Flight records indicate that the plane quickly lost altitude before hitting the ground.
There are more than 600 rescuers at the crash site. Firefighters arrived at the scene first and were able to put out the flames generated by the accident.
Videos recorded by local residents and circulated on Chinese social media as well as government broadcasting stations show fire and smoke at the crash site, as well as the wreckage of the plane.
Pictures from Mashhad A # Boeing 737 crashes in the south #China.
else: https://t.co/otZytipiEw pic.twitter.com/IBFrkJDsK3
– CGTN (CGTNOfficial) March 21, 2022
Chinese aviation safety has improved greatly in recent decades after a series of accidents in the 1990s, and today accidents are extremely rare in the country.
The country’s last major accident occurred in August 2010, when a plane from Harbin crashed in Yichun, killing 42 people.
China Eastern expressed its “sincere condolences to the passengers and crew who died.”
Officials at Guangzhou Airport have designated a reception area for relatives of people on the flight.
A woman told AFP that she booked a seat on the plane but ended up catching a flight that left early. She said her sister and four of her friends were on the plane that crashed. He said, “I am very sad.”
China Eastern, a state-owned company, is one of the three largest Chinese airlines.
The weather was cloudy at the time of the accident, but visibility was good.
The plane descended thousands of meters in three minutes, according to websites that track flights.
Flight MU5735 left Kunming at 1:11 pm local time (2:11 am Brasilia time) and was scheduled to arrive in Guangzhou at 3:05 pm.
Flight tracking websites show that the plane was in the air for just over an hour and was approaching its destination.
According to FlightRadar24 data, the latest information obtained about the flight showed that at 14:22 (local time) its altitude was 982 meters.
According to aviation websites, the Boeing 737-800 is seven years old. The model is the predecessor of the Boeing 737 Max line, which crashed in Indonesia in 2018 and Ethiopia in 2019.
China banned the 737 Max line after the accidents.
China’s aviation agency said it had sent investigators to the crash site.
Did you know that the BBC is also on Telegram? Subscribe in the channel.
Have you seen our new videos on Youtube? Subscribe to our channel!
“Devoted food specialist. General alcohol fanatic. Amateur explorer. Infuriatingly humble social media scholar. Analyst.”