Passenger aircraft carrying 132 crashes in China

Beijing, March 21, 2022

A China Eastern flight, with 132 people on board, crashed in China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Monday afternoon, the official Xinhua news agency reported, quoting emergency officials.

The Boeing 737 aircraft on Flight MU5735, with 123 passengers and nine members of crew on board, was on a flight from Kunming to Guangzhou, the report said, quoting the country's Civil Aviation Administration.

The plane crashed in crashed in Tengxian County in the city of Wuzhou, causing a mountain fire, according to the regional emergency management department.

"Rescuers have been assembled and were approaching the site. The casualties were not immediately known.

"The administration said it has initiated the emergency response mechanism and dispatched a working team to the site," the report added.

IANS adds:

Flight tracking sites said that the plane was in the air for just over an hour, the BBC reported.

According to FlightRadar24 data, the last sourced information on flight MU5735 showed it ended at 2.22 p.m., at an altitude of 3,225 ft.

IANS