Chinese airliner carrying 132 crashes
March 22, 2022
A China Eastern Boeing 737 jetliner carrying 132 people crashed near the city of Wuzhou in the southern province of Guangxi on Monday, China's Civil Aviation Administration (CAAC) said.
There was no sign of survivors. The airline said it deeply mourned the loss of passengers and crew, without specifying how many people had been killed.
Videos on social media showed what appeared to be plane debris strewn around a mountainside.
What happened during the crash?
The plane, a six-year-old Boeing 737-800 was flying from the city of Kunming to Guangzhou.
CAAC said the aircraft lost contact over Wuzhou. It had 123 passengers and nine crew on board.
Flight tracking site FlightRadar24 said the Boeing 737-89P rapidly lost speed before entering a sharp descent.
China Eastern grounded its fleet of 737-800 planes after the crash.
DW correspondent Fabian Kretschmer said the crucial question of why this crash happened has not yet been answered, leaving the public and experts dismayed.
"The whole country is wondering what exactly happened," Kretschmer said.
"It was a very spectacular video that was circulated on social media that showed how the plane fell down vertically from the sky into the mountains."
"Eyewitnesses also told local media they haven't seen any visible sign of smoke or fire on the plane."
He added: "Many aviation safety experts say even if the two engines of the Boeing 737 failed simultaneously, it would not explain how a plane crashes like a stone from the sky.
"Because it would usually glide but it was really a vertical line."
Despite 1000 rescuers on the ground, the plane's black box recorder has not been found yet.
Xi 'shocked' over crash
Chinese President Xi Jinping said he was "shocked" by the crash. He told state broadcaster CCTV no efforts should be spared to find out the "cause of the accident as soon as possible."
China Eastern gave a hotline number for relatives of those on board but released no further details.
Boeing said it was aware of the initial reports of the crash and was "working to gather more information.''
Meanwhile, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), has appointed a US senior air safety investigator to oversee the probe into the place crash, it said on Monday.
As the aircraft was built in the US, under an international agreement, the United States can serve as a representative to the investigation.
China's good air safety record
China's airline industry safety record has been among the best in the world over the past decade.
The country's last major plane accident was in August 2010 when 44 of 96 people on board were killed when an Embraer E-190 regional jet flown by Henan Airlines crashed on approach to Yichun airport.
In 1994 a China Northwest Airlines Tupolev-154 crashed in Xian, killing 160 people.
China Eastern is one of China's three major air carriers.
lo,fh/wmr (AP, Reuters, dpa)