A China Eastern passenger jet carrying 132 people has crashed in southwest China and caused a mountain fire with casualties unknown, China’s Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said today.
The Boeing 737 plane crashed in the rural countryside near Wuzhou city, Guangxi region and “caused a mountain fire”, CCTV said, citing the provincial emergency management bureau.
The report added that rescue teams were dispatched to the scene.
The Civil aviation administration said the aircraft lost contact over the city of Wuzhou. It had 123 passengers and nine crew on board. State media said earlier there were 133 people on board.
The China Eastern flight from Kunming to Guangzhou departed at 1.11 pm local time (0511 GMT), Flight Radar24 data showed.
The flight tracking ended at 2.22 pm local time (0622 GMT) an altitude of 3225 feet with a speed of 376 knots.
It had been due to land at 3.05 pm (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