A Chinese passenger plane carrying 133 people crashed in Guangxi, a southern Chinese province. Here’s more on the airplane crash.
Chinese passenger plane crashes in Guangxi
A Boeing 737 being operated by the Chinese Eastern Airlines crashed on a hill in the south china province of Guangxi. Initial reports claimed that there were 133 people on board. However, according to the official data from the Chinese aviation authority, the plane was carrying 123 passengers and 9 crew. Currently, the rescue efforts are taking place but, the number of casualties is unknown.
Flight MU5735, the Chinese passenger plane was operating a domestic route between Kunming and Guangzhou. It was on an estimated two-hour-long flight path. Based on the flight replay from FLightradar24, the plane plunged 29,100 feet in under a minute. FLightradar24 is a global flight tracker. Social media is buzzing with several purported photos and videos. But, the Chinese State media was the first to send out an official confirmation on the issue. Additionally, the aviation company has changed its website colors to black and white on Monday as a sign of mourning.
President Xi, shocked by the crash
China’s President Xi Jinping expressed his shock at the plane crash. He also called for an official investigation to look into the accident. “We are shocked to learn of the China Eastern MU5735 accident,” stated Xi according to the state media. Additionally, he also called for “all efforts” to carry out rescue and dig deep into the “cause of the accident as soon as possible”.
China’s Civil Aviation Administration is also on an emergency mechanism protocol and is dispatching a working group to help at the scene. Additionally, according to Fortune, the shares for Boeing fell by 6.8 percent in pre-market US trading.
