China plane crash: No survivors found, says aviation authority

Beijing: No survivors have been found in the China plane crash, news agency AFP quoted the aviation authority as saying on Tuesday evening.

For the unversed, the China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 aircraft, which departed from Kunming and was bound for Guangzhou, crashed into a mountainous area near Molang village in Tengxian County in the city of Wuzhou at 2:38 pm, causing a mountain fire, according to the regional emergency management department. The plane was carrying 123 passengers and nine crew members.

WHAT CAUSED THE CRASH?

The cause is unknown. Flight 5735 was at 29,000 feet (8,800 meters) on Monday afternoon when it went into a dive about an hour into its flight, according to flight-tracking website FlightRadar24.com.

The plane plunged to 7,400 feet (2,200 meters) before regaining about 1,200 feet (360 meters), then dived again. The plane stopped transmitting data 96 seconds after it started to fall.

State media and Chinese regulators gave no indication the pilot reported trouble or other information that might shed light on the cause of the disaster.

Rescuers were looking for the plane's black box, which should contain information from instruments and sound from the cockpit.

Investigators have said after previous crashes that confirming the cause sometimes can require months or years due to the need to gather badly damaged debris and examine specialized technical factors.

(With AP inputs)

Published on: Tuesday, March 22, 2022, 07:38 PM IST