An Eastern passenger jet in China which had 133 people onboard has crashed in South-West China with casualties yet to be ascertained.
Africa Daily News, New York gathered that the Boeing 737 plane had crashed in the rural countryside near Wuzhou city, Guangxi region and ’caused a mountain fire’, according to the footages made available to the provincial emergency management bureau.
It was gathered that rescue teams were on Monday morning dispatched to the scene for rescue operations.
According to the management bureau, a ‘China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 plane carrying 133 people has crashed in Teng county, Wuzhou, Guangxi, and caused a mountain fire’.
Meanwhile, local media reported that China Eastern flight MU5735 was yet to arrive at its scheduled destination in Guangzhou after taking off from the city of Kunming shortly after 1:00 pm (0500 GMT) on Monday.
Furthermore, there is no official statement from official sources on cause of the crash of the plane, which flight-tracking website Flightradar24 identified as a 6-year-old 737-800 aircraft.
The flight-tracking was said to have ended at 2:22pm (0622 GMT) at an altitude of 3225 feet with a speed of 376 knots.
It had been due to land at 3:05pm (0705 GMT).
Some industry experts have already indicated that this could be the biggest aviation incident China has had in years.
Africa Daily News, New York reports that China Eastern is one of Chinaβs three main air carriers which has been operating scores of domestic and international routes serving 248 destinations every year.
It us believed by several aviation experts that the safety record of the countryβs airline industry has been among the best in the world over the past decade.
The twin-engine, single-aisle Boeing 737 is one of the worldβs most popular planes for short and medium-haul flights.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
