China plane crash: Boeing 737 vanished from radar suddenly - What we know so far

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A China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737, carrying 132 people on board, crashed on Monday in a mountainous area of the country's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. 

The Civil Aviation Administration of China said in a statement the crash occurred near the city of Wuzhou in Teng county. The flight was traveling from Kunming in the western province of Yunnan to the industrial center of Guangzhou along the east coast, it added.

Radar tracking of the plane, according to FlightRadar24, shows the plane descending steeply. 

Here are 10 key points to note about the tragic crash:

1. The plane stopped transmitting data just southwest of the Chinese city of Wuzhou.
2. State media said local police first received calls from villagers alerting the crash around 12 p.m. (0630 GMT). Guangxi provincial emergency management department said contact with the plane was lost at 11.45 a.m. (0615 GMT).
3. Chinese President Xi Jinping called for an “all-out effort” to be made in the rescue operation, for post-crash arrangements to be handled appropriately and potential safety hazards investigated to ensure complete civil aviation flight safety.
4. People’s Daily reports that 117 rescuers have already arrived at the crash site. Guangxi fire department is organizing 650 rescuers who are heading to the site from three directions.
5. Satellite data from NASA showed a massive fire just in the area of where the plane went down at the time of the crash.
6. The Wuzhou fire brigade has sent 117 firefighters with 23 fire trucks to the site. Further 538 firefighters from other parts of Guangxi have been dispatched to join the rescue efforts, the regional fire department said.
7. China Eastern Airlines' website went black and white after the crash, which airlines do in response to a crash as a sign of respect for the assumed victims.
8. Following the accident, videos and pictures purporting to come from the scene started circulating on social media showing smoke billowing from a hillside and wreckage on the ground.
9. The deadliest crash involving a Boeing 737-800 came in January 2020, when Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard accidentally shot down a Ukraine International Airlines flight, killing all 176 people on board. The last deadliest crash in China was of a civilian jetliner was in 2010.
10. Shanghai-based China Eastern is one of China’s top three airlines, operating scores of domestic and international routes serving 248 destinations.

(inputs from agencies)

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