China Eastern Airlines Plane with 132 Passengers Crashes
A China Eastern Airlines aircraft with 132 passengers crashed near Wuzhou city in Guangxi province in southern China.
The crash of a China Eastern Airlines passenger aircraft with 132 passengers was confirmed by Chinese aviation authorities. The plane crashed on Monday, March 21 (Farvardin 1) near the city of Wuzhou (Wuzhou) in Guangxi province (Guangxi) in southern China.
According to reports from the Air Traffic Control Organization, the Boeing 737 aircraft suddenly fell from an altitude of over 8,000 meters. The crash of this aircraft with 123 passengers and 9 crew members is the country’s largest aviation disaster in the past 12 years.
Based on reports, flight number MU5735 was en route from Kunming in Yunnan province to Guangzhou in Guangdong province. State media announced that rescue teams have been dispatched to the Teng (Teng) mountain area.
Video footage of the plane crash recorded on mobile phones and circulating on social media shows a cloud of smoke rising from the slopes of the mountain area. Other images of debris and personal belongings of passengers scattered in the area have also been published on social networks. Speculation about the causes of the crash began immediately after the news was released.
An expert in an interview with China National Television said: “Even if both engines of this aircraft had failed simultaneously, it would not be possible for it to crash at such high speed, because the aircraft could still glide in the air for a period of time without engine power.”
An eyewitness in a conversation with the news website Hongxing Xinwen described seeing the sudden crash of the aircraft from behind the steering wheel of his car. He said: “It was a complete airplane, without smoke or fire, falling at high speed.”
The crash site is approximately 300 kilometers west of Guangzhou. According to China National Television, Xi Jinping, President of China, requested that the airline company deal with the consequences of this incident and investigate potential threats to air travel. China Eastern Airlines immediately issued an order to ground all Boeing 737 aircraft in its fleet following the crash of flight MU5735.
Teng is a remote area approximately 300 kilometers from Guangzhou city. Following the crash of flight MU5735, reports emerged of forest fires in the area.
Air transport in China has experienced a relatively safe decade. The country’s last major aviation disaster occurred in August 2010 in Heilongjiang, a province in northeastern China, which resulted in the deaths of 44 passengers on a Henan Airlines aircraft.
Source: DW
