A China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 plane has crashed in the mountainous Guangxi province and it is feared there are no survivors from the 123 passengers and nine crew on board.
The crash, which reportedly saw the plane nose-diving and plummeting 30,000 feet in a matter of minutes, caused a fire in the forest that was visible from space.
“Can confirm the plane has crashed,” China Eastern Airlines said in a statement. According to state media, all of China Eastern’s 737-800 fleet has been grounded.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) says the aircraft lost contact over the city of Wuzhou around 2:20pm local time. Hundreds of rescue workers arrived on the scene from Guangxi and the neighbouring Guangdong province.
President Xi Jinping expressed his shock over the incident and ordered an investigation into the cause of the crash.
The safety record of China’s airline industry is said to be among the best in the world. The last fatal incident was in 2010, when 44 people were killed on a regional jet that crashed near the Yichun airport due to low visibility.
Boeing 737-800s have been in operation since 1998. According to data from the Aviation Safety Network, there have been 22 accidents involving Boeing 737-800s.
