A Boeing-737 with 132 people on board crashed in southern China on Monday, an accident which could prove to be the deadliest since 1994 in this country where aviation safety has greatly improved.
The aircraft “lost contact over the city of Wuzhou” in the mountainous region of Guangxi, the Chinese Civil Aircraft Administration (CAAC) said without providing a casualty toll.
“It is confirmed that this flight crashed,” she added in a brief statement, adding that she had dispatched “a task force” to the scene. The aircraft was carrying 123 passengers and 9 crew members.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said he was “shocked” after the crash, state broadcaster CCTV reported. In an unusual hot reaction, the strong man from Beijing called for “determining the causes of the accident as soon as possible”, indicated the chain.
According to local media, China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735 took off shortly after 1 p.m. local time (1 a.m. EDT) from the southwest metropolis of Kunming. His destination was Canton (south), some 1,300 km away.
No comment was immediately available from China Eastern, which put its black-and-white website on the heels.
The plane “completely fell to pieces” after crashing into a mountainside, a local resident told local media.
The accident “caused a fire” in the mountain, for its part indicated the public television CCTV, adding that rescue teams had been sent to the spot.
According to the specialized site FlightRadar24, the aircraft lost nearly 26,000 feet (7925 m) in the space of 3 minutes before disappearing from radar screens after 2:22 p.m. local time (02:22 GMT).
Rare disasters
Plane accidents are relatively rare in China, a country where air traffic has grown considerably in recent decades and safety measures are generally strict.
The last major accident in the country dates back to August 2010. A flight from the Chinese company Henan Airlines then crashed in the northeast of the country and killed around 40 people.
The heaviest toll for a commercial flight dates back to 1994. A China Northwest Airlines Tupolev 154 crashed shortly after takeoff from Xi’an (north), killing all 160 people on board.
Many Chinese passengers also perished in March 2014 during the enigmatic disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, bound for Beijing.
Monday’s air disaster is another blow for Boeing in China.
In March 2019, the country was the very first in the world to order its companies to suspend flights of 737 MAX aircraft for security reasons.
The announcement followed two accidents in a few months abroad, which had killed 346 people.
Nearly three years after these setbacks, the Chinese regulator finally lifted its flight ban for the Boeing 737 MAX last December. It is not yet known whether these aircraft have resumed commercial flights in China again.
This decision was eagerly awaited by Boeing, of which China is an important market.
The regulator notably conditioned the return of the 737 MAX in the Chinese sky to technical modifications on the planes, in order to guarantee flight safety.
China was the last major country to lift the ban on the aircraft.