China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 crashes into a mountainous region in Wuzhous, in southern Guangzhou province. No signs of survivors as per reports.
According to the Global Times, Flight MU 5735 was flying from Kunming to Guangzhou with 123 passengers and nine crew. The flight took off from Kunming airport at 10.45 am IST. However, about an hour later, while the flight was midair at an altitude of 8869 meters, as it was cruising at 845 km/h speed, its speed began dropping and has suffered a near vertical fall. The flight has crashed after reporting signal loss at 11.51 am IST, while it was halfway to Guanzhou.
Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has sent a team to the crash site. Fire service has also been pressed into operation to tame the blaze caused by the crash. NASA’s satellite data has shown a massive fire at the mountainside area where the plane went down.
Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered an investigation, expressing shock over the aircraft crash.