Staff in full PPE stood guard outside the waiting area in Guangzhou airport for relatives aboard the crashed jet
A China Eastern passenger jet carrying 132 people crashed into a remote mountainside in southern China on Monday after dropping thousands of metres in just three minutes, sparking a massive fire on impact.
The airline acknowledged that some aboard the Boeing 737-800 travelling from the city of Kunming to the southern hub of Guangzhou had died, but did not offer more specifics. President Xi Jinping quickly called for a full probe.
An unverified video carried by some Chinese media appeared to show a plane in a vertical nosedive. AFP could not immediately verify its authenticity.
“The company expresses its deep condolences for the passengers and crew members who died in the plane crash,” China Eastern said in a statement, without providing more information.
Hundreds of firefighters were dispatched to the scene in Teng county near Wuzhou, state media reported, as nearby villagers rushed to help the rescue effort.
Flight tracking website FlightRadar24 showed no data for the flight after 2:22 pm.
One villager told a local news site the plane had “completely fallen apart” and he had seen forest areas destroyed by the fire caused by the crash.
Aerial images of the crash site showed a large crater in the side of a green mountainside. State TV footage followed orange-clad emergency workers battling thick foliage to gather debris.
The company said in a January report that it had 289 Boeing 737-series aircraft in its 751-strong fleet. Chinese media reported that the airline will now ground all the 737-800 jets.
“Our thoughts are with the passengers and crew of China Eastern Airlines Flight MU 5735,” Boeing said.
The arrivals board at Guangzhou airport showed the jet’s flight information for hours after it had crashed, as staff in full PPE held up signs to direct distraught relatives to a separate waiting area.
One airport staffer told AFP her colleagues inside were “focusing on taking care” of relatives of those involved in the crash.
Her sister and four friends had taken the crashed plane, she said, adding she was just “waiting for news”.
“When we heard the news…. (we) called him over and over for hours, but never got through,” Ye said, adding he had alerted the man’s parents, who were “going through some very complex emotions.”
A Henan Airlines flight crashed in northeastern Heilongjiang province in 2010, killing at least 42 out of 92 people on board, although the final toll was never confirmed. It was the last Chinese commercial flight crash that caused civilian fatalities.
Jean-Paul Troadec, former director of France’s Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety, told AFP it was “far too early” to draw conclusions, but said the FlightRadar data pattern was “very unusual”.
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