GUANGZHOU, March 21, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - China Eastern confirmed there had 
been fatalities after a jet carrying 132 people crashed into a mountain in 
southern China on Monday, shortly after losing contact with air traffic 
control and dropping thousands of metres in just three minutes.

   The Boeing 737-800 flight from the city of Kunming to the southern hub of 
Guangzhou "lost airborne contact over Wuzhou" city in the Guangxi region on 
Monday afternoon, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China 
(CAAC).

   The jet was carrying 123 passengers and nine crew members.

   China Eastern confirmed late Monday that at least some people involved in 
the crash had been killed, without providing more information or giving 
details on any survivors.

   "The company expresses its deep condolences for the passengers and crew 
members who died in the plane crash," the airline said in a statement.

   The disaster prompted an unusually swift public reaction from President Xi 
Jinping, who said he was "shocked" and ordered an immediate investigation 
into its cause.

   Hundreds of firefighters were dispatched to the scene in Teng county near 
Wuzhou, state media reported, as nearby villagers rushed to help the rescue 
effort.

   "Everyone went to the mountains," Tang Min, who runs a restaurant a few 
kilometres from the crash site, told AFP by telephone.

   Fears for the fate of the jet spread on Monday afternoon as local media 
reported that China Eastern flight MU5735 had not arrived as planned in 
Guangzhou after taking off from Kunming shortly after 1:00 pm (0500 GMT).

   Flight tracking website FlightRadar24 showed no data for the flight after 
2:22 pm.

   The tracker showed the plane sharply dropped from an altitude of 29,100 
feet to 3,225 feet (8,870 to 982 metres) in three minutes, before flight 
information ceased.

   One villager told a local news site that the plane had "completely fallen 
apart" and he had seen forest areas destroyed by the fire it caused when 
crashing into the mountainside.

   China Eastern changed its website to black and white only on Monday 
afternoon.

   A January company report said China Eastern had 289 Boeing 737-series 
aircraft in its 751-strong fleet. 

   State broadcaster CCTV said it had learned that China Eastern will ground 
all its 787-800 jets as a precaution after the crash.

   Boeing said in a statement that it was "aware of the initial media reports 
and... working to gather more information".

   - 'Shock' -

   Xi called for "all efforts" towards the rescue and to find out the "cause 
of the accident as soon as possible", according to CCTV.

   "We are shocked to learn of the China Eastern MU5735 accident," he said, 
calling for "the absolute safety of the sector and people's lives".

   The arrivals board at Guangzhou airport showed the jet's flight 
information for hours after it had crashed, as staff in full PPE held up 
signs to direct distraught relatives to a separate area that had been set up 
to receive them. 

   One relative waiting in Guangzhou airport told local media that she had 
been due to board the flight, but had changed her booking at the last minute 
to an earlier plane.

   Her sister and four friends had taken the crashed plane, she added.

   Now she was just "waiting for news", she said. "I feel very sad."

   A villager near the crash site surnamed Liu told state-run China News 
Service that he had driven a motorbike to the scene after hearing a loud 
explosion.

   He said he saw debris on the ground, including an aircraft wing and 
fragments of clothing hanging from trees.

   China had enjoyed an enviable air safety record in recent years as the 
country was crisscrossed by newly built airports and serviced by new airlines 
established to match breakneck growth over the last few decades.

   A Henan Airlines flight crashed in northeastern Heilongjiang province in 
2010, killing at least 42 out of 92 people on board, although the final toll 
was never confirmed. It was the last Chinese commercial flight crash that 
caused civilian casualties. 

   The deadliest Chinese commercial flight crash was a China Northwest 
Airlines crash in 1994, which killed all 160 onboard.

   Jean-Paul Troadec, former director of the Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis 
for Civil Aviation Safety, told AFP it was "far too early" to draw 
conclusions, but added that the Flightradar data was "very unusual".