China plane crash – live: Search for survivors continues as witness describes moment flight fell from sky
No survivors have been found after a plane carrying 132 people crashed in southern China, according to the country’s state broadcaster.
Rescuers continue to search the wreckage of the China Eastern plane, which plummeted into hills in Guangxi province and exploded in flames yesterday afternoon.
A witness described seeing the plane nosedive and hit the ground – while another man described hearing a bang “like thunder”.
It is one of the country’s worst air disasters in years.
Worried relatives have gathered at Baiyun Airport in Guangzhou, waiting for news.
One woman said six of her family members and friends had been on the flight. They were on the way to a funeral.
“I feel very anguished,” she said.
Smoke could be seen rising from a mountainside near the city of Wuzhou, Teng county after the Boeing 737-800 dropped 30,000ft in two minutes.
Rescue teams are scouring the slopes and hope to find the plane’s black box, which could help experts determine the cause of the crash.
China Eastern Airlines has grounded its entire Boeing 737-800 fleet and President Xi Jinping has ordered an investigation.
Key Points
China Eastern Airlines plane carrying 132 people crashes in Guangxi province
China state broadcaster says no survivors in the plane crash
‘No sign of life’ among debris, says firefighter
China grounds entire Boeing 737 fleet after crash, state media reports
Xi Jinping calls for ‘all-out effort’ to be made in rescue mission
Boeing shares fall after 737 crashes in southern China
China’s airline safety record ‘good’ – but lacks transparency
Chinese companies say employees were on flight
11:43 , Laurie Churchman
Two Chinese companies have said their employees were on the China Eastern flight.
Dinglong Culture, a Guangzhou company in both mining and TV and movie production, said its CFO, Fang Fang, was a passenger.
Zhongxinghua, an accounting firm used by Dinglong, said that two of its employees were also on the flight.Family members have been gathering in waiting areas at the airports in both Guangzhou and Kunming.
Chinese news reports said five hotels with 700 rooms had been requisitioned closer to the crash site for relatives.
China Eastern flight’s last movements
11:16 , Laurie Churchman
The cause of yesterday’s China Eastern crash is not yet known – but there are details about some of its last movements.
Flight 5735 was travelling at 29,000 feet on Monday afternoon when it began to dive about an hour into its flight, according to flight-tracking website FlightRadar24.com.The plane plunged to 7,400 feet before regaining about 1,200 feet, then dived again. It crashed into the side of a mountain in a remote, forested area outside the city of Wuzhou.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. The plane stopped transmitting data 96 seconds after it started to fall.Rescue workers planned to use drones in the search for the plane’s black boxes, which should contain information from instruments and sound recorded in the cockpit.Confirming the cause of a plane crash sometimes takes months or years, partly due to the need to gather badly damaged debris.
Other Chinese airlines ‘yet to cancel any flights that use 737-800 aircraft'
10:57 , Laurie Churchman
China Eastern and two subsidiaries grounded their fleet of 737-800 planes yesterday following the crash.
As of Tuesday, other Chinese airlines had yet to cancel any flights that use 737-800 aircraft, according to data from Chinese aviation data provider Flight Master.
Aviation experts told Chinese media that airlines should avoid suspending all planes of the same model before an investigation into the cause of the crash has been completed, according to reporter William Yang.
Blood donations and medics on standby
10:36 , Laurie Churchman
Reporter William Yang has more details on the China Eastern plane crash.
The authorities say no survivors have been found – but more than 200 medics are reportedly on standby, and people have been donating blood.
“Even though we know it’s impossible, we still hope the miracle of finding some survivors can happen,” one social media user wrote on Weibo.
You can read the full story below.
Families face anxious wait for news with no sign of survivors from China plane crash
Farm worker describes witnessing plane crash
10:10 , Laurie Churchman
A farm worker who saw the falling aeroplane says it hit a gap in the mountain where nobody was living.
Chen Weihao said the plane “looked to be in one piece when it nosedived”.
“Within seconds, it crashed,” he told the Xinhua news agency.
It reportedly left a deep pit in the mountainside.
Rescue workers have been making their way through dense vegetation and combing through the charred crash site.
Rescue workers scour crash site
09:49 , Laurie Churchman
Emergency workers are scouring the site of the plane crash.
Earlier, footage from the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the ruling Communist Party, showed search and rescue workers and paramilitary forces scaling forested hills and placing markers wherever debris was found.
Burnt remains of identity cards and wallets have been recovered, according to state media.
Earlier today, people gathered for a small Buddhist ceremony near the crash site.
Police have set up a checkpoint at Lu village, on the approach to the site, and barred journalists from entering.
‘It was like thunder’: witness describes hearing crash
09:27 , Laurie Churchman
A witness close to the crash site has described hearing a loud bang as the China Eastern plane plummeted to the ground.
Si, a 64-year-old man who lives in a village near the city of Wuzhou, said “it was like thunder”.
The crash site was hemmed in by mountains on three sides, state media said, with just one small path providing access.
Chinese media carried dashcam footage apparently showing a jet diving to the ground. The footage has not been independently verified.
North Korea offers condolences to China over plane crash
08:59 , Laurie Churchman
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has sent a letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping to offer condolences over the China Eastern plane crash, state media KCNA said.
In a message sent on Monday, he expressed “deep sympathy and condolences” to Xi, victims and their bereaved families, the official news agency said.
“He sincerely hoped that the Chinese people would eradicate the after-effects of the accident as early as possible and the bereaved family members would overcome sorrow and lead a stabilised life,” it said.
China Eastern crash is ‘rare disaster for state-run airlines'
08:36 , Laurie Churchman
Along with North America and Europe, China is one of the world’s top three air travel markets. It has dramatically improved safety since a string of deadly crashes in the 1990s and 2000s.
The China Eastern tragedy on Monday comes after years free of major air disasters.
The last crash of a commercial jetliner in mainland China was in 2010, where 44 of the 96 passengers on board an Embraer E-190 regional jet were killed.
It crashed while approaching to Yichun airport in low visibility.
You can read the full story below.
China Eastern crash is rare disaster for state-run airlines
‘His mother couldn’t believe this had happened'
08:07 , Laurie Churchman
Worried relatives have gathered at Baiyun Airport in Guangzhou, waiting for updates.
One man at the airport told Reuters news agency he was the colleague of a passenger named Mr Tan.
After confirming that he was on the plane, he had to break the news to Mr Tan’s family.
“They were sobbing. His mother couldn’t believe this had happened,” he said.
“She said she will be here as soon as possible. Because she was very sad, her boy was only 29 years old.”
India puts three flight carriers on ‘enhanced surveillance’
07:20 , Maroosha Muzaffar
India has decided to put Boeing 737 fleets of Indian carriers on “enhanced surveillance” after the China Eastern Airlines plane crash.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) announced on Tuesday that SpiceJet, Vistara and Air India Express, which have Boeing 737 in their fleets, shall be put on an “enhanced surveillance” in the wake of the devastating crash that is believed to have left all 132 people onboard dead.
“Flight safety is serious business and we are closely studying the situation,” DGCA chief Arun Kumar said, according to Indian news agencies.
Mass flight cancellations in China after crash
06:57 , Maroosha Muzaffar
About 74 per cent of the 11,800 flights scheduled in China have been canceled on Tuesday, a day after a plane crashed on a mountainside in southern China.
According to VariFlight, a global flight data services company, even some of the busiest domestic flight routes — from Beijing and Shanghai — have been affected by this.
The cancellations come after a Boeing 737-800 plane operated by China Eastern Airlines nosedived in a crash that is believed to have killed all 132 people onboard.
Meanwhile, Flight Master, the Chinese aviation data provider, reported that other Chinese airlines that use the Boeing 737-800 are yet to cancel any of their flights as of Tuesday.
Latest crash threatens Boeing's place in Chinese aviation sector
06:40 , Maroosha Muzaffar
The deadly crash of the Boeing 737-800 in southern China, which is believed to have killed all 132 people onboard, comes as a major setback for the aircraft maker’s efforts in China, renewing concerns about its planes’ safety.
On Monday, the China Eastern Airlines flight plummeted 30,000 ft in two minutes near the city of Wuzhou, in Teng county, in the province of Guangxi region.
It brings back the spotlight on Boeing, which has had a turbulent few years after two of its 737 Max jets crashed in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people.
The 737 Max crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia led to the grounding of the fleet for about 20 months.
The Boeing 737-800 that crashed on Monday does not have the equipment that led to the 737 Max disasters.
However, according to data from the Aviation Safety Network, since its launch, 737-800s have been involved in 22 hull-loss accidents that resulted in 612 fatalities.
“What we know is that the crash happened during the cruise phase of the flight, which is comparatively rare even though this phase accounts for the majority of flight time,” Oleksandra Molloy, aviation safety expert at the University of New South Wales told Al Jazeera.
He noted that only 13 per cent of fatal commercial accidents globally between 2011 and 2020 occurred during the cruise phase. “Usually, the autopilot is engaged during this phase.”
Additional rescue teams dispatched to site of crash
05:57 , Maroosha Muzaffar
On Tuesday, additional teams of rescuers and medical experts arrived at site of the crash in Guangxi region, CGTN reported.
Hundreds of volunteers from neighbouring Yunnan and Guangdong are also reportedly on their way to join the rescue efforts.
A team of rescuers from Wuzhou was the first to reach the site and extinguish the fire caused due to the crash on Monday.
At 2.38pm on Monday local time, a China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 plane carrying 132 people crashed in a mountainous region near Molang village in south China’s Wuzhou city.
No survivors have been found so far, nearly 24 hours since the crash.
The search for the airplane’s black box is still underway.
Rescue and search operations continue on Tuesday at the site of crash
05:39 , Maroosha Muzaffar
Rescue operations in China are underway at the site of the crash on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
State broadcaster CCTV said earlier in the day that no survivors have been found so far.On Monday, a China Eastern Airlines plane with 132 people on board crashed in the mountainous region near the city of Wuzhou in the Guangxi region. All those on board the plane are believed to have been Chinese.
Rescue teams continue to scour the slopes of the mountain in hopes of finding the black box and other parts of the plane that could help experts determine the exact cause of the crash.
On Monday, after the crash, debris from the plane was found strewn all over with belongings of passengers covering the ground.
State media reported that burnt remains of identity cards and wallets were also found at the site.
The flight MU5735 was en route from Kunming, capital of the southwestern province of Yunnan, to the port city of Guangzhou, when it suddenly nose-dived to the ground.
Woman lost six relatives and friends in China airplane crash
05:07 , Maroosha Muzaffar
A woman who said six of her relatives and friends were onboard the Chinese Eastern Airlines plane that crashed has lit 100 candles in their memory.
The woman, who was identified by just her surname Chen, planned to attend a burial ceremony in Guangzhou, Guangdong province for her six family members and friends who died in the crash on Monday, Global Times reported.
A woman surnamed Chen said she had 6 relatives and friends on board MU5735, who planned to attend a burial ceremony in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province. Chen and her family lit 100 candles on their doorstep to pray for family and friends on Mon night. pic.twitter.com/5GgebUqFL9
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) March 22, 2022
Chinese president Xi Jinping has said that he was “shocked to learn” about the tragic incident.
State broadcaster reported on Tuesday that no survivors were found at the site of the crash near the city of Wuzhou in the Guangxi region.
Boeing China says experts ready to assist with investigation into crash
04:30 , Maroosha Muzaffar
A day after the crash, Boeing China will “cooperate” with China Eastern Airlines and will provide support, the company said on Tuesday.
The Global Times reported that the company is in touch with the National Transportation Safety Board in the United States and has asked its technical experts to aid the Civil Aviation Administration of China in conducting the investigation.
The China Eastern plane, a Boeing 737-800 aircraft, was carrying 132 people when it crashed in hills near the city of Wuzhou, in the Guangxi region.
‘Serious technical failure’ in which plane lost engine power, expert says
04:22 , Maroosha Muzaffar
Even though the black box from the China Eastern 737 is yet to be retrieved, a Chinese aviation expert has said that it is likely that the plane lost engine power and this resulted in the pilot losing control of the aircraft.
Wang Ya’nan, the chief editor of Beijing-based Aerospace Knowledge, was quoted by the Global Times as saying that “it could be a very serious technical failure in which the plane inevitably enters a high-speed descent”.
He however made it clear that the specific cause can only be determined after the black box is recovered and analysed.
The Chinese state broadcaster has reported that there were no survivors found at the site of the crash on Tuesday.
China’s vice-premier to oversee rescue operations
03:35 , Maroosha Muzaffar
China’s vice-premier Liu He and state councillor Wang Yong have been assigned to oversee the rescue operations in the China Eastern 737 crash that is feared to have killed all 132 people on board.
On Monday, the Chinese premier Xi Jinping had said that he was “shocked to learn” about the tragic incident.
Flight data showed that the plane disappeared from radar two minutes after it suddenly plummeted from an altitude of around 8,869 metres.
State broadcaster reported on Tuesday that no survivors have been found at the site of the crash near the city of Wuzhou in the Guangxi region.
Xinhua reported that there were no foreign passengers on board.
China state broadcaster says no survivors in the plane crash
03:15 , Maroosha Muzaffar
China’s state broadcaster has said that no survivors have been found in Tuesday’s plane crash.
CCTV reported today that even as the “wreckage of the plane was found at the scene, but up until now, none of those aboard the plane with whom contact was lost has been found.”
The plane carrying 132 people crashed on Monday in the mountainous area of China — and was touted to be the worst air disaster in a decade.
The Boeing 737-800 crashed near the city of Wuzhou in the Guangxi region while flying from Kunming in the southwestern province of Yunnan to Guangzhou along the east coast.
Xinhua news agency reported that the crash created a deep pit in the mountainside.
Thanks for reading!
00:09 , Ella Glover
That’s it for tonight’s coverage.
Come back tomorrow for more rolling updates.
Boeing technical staff to aid investigation
Monday 21 March 2022 23:14 , Ella Glover
Boeing will offer the full support of its its technical experts in the investigation of the crash, its CEO announced.
Boeing Chief Executive Dave Calhoun told employees on Monday he was limited by what Boeing could say about the investigation being led by the Civil Aviation Administration of China, but offered the company’s full support, Reuters reported.
“Trust that we will be doing everything we can to support our customer and the accident investigation during this difficult time, guided by our commitment to safety, transparency, and integrity at every step,” Calhoun said.
Relatives of passengers wait at airport for their loved ones
Monday 21 March 2022 22:20 , Ella Glover
Some relatives of the 132 passengers on the Boeing 737 have been pictured waiting for their loved ones at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport.
Some are seated in a specifically cordoned off area.
In images: Plane crash rocks China as relatives await information
Monday 21 March 2022 21:06 , Sam Hancock
China Eastern Airlines officials arrive in Wuzhou
Monday 21 March 2022 20:42 , Sam Hancock
A so-called “working group” from China Eastern Airlines has arrived in Wuzhou City, near where a Boeing 737 jet crashed on Monday, according to state-run channel CGTN.
It is thought the officials are in the area as part of the investigation into what happened.
Whether they will assist rescue workers with their operation was not known.
Watch: Emergency services start rescue mission in south China
Monday 21 March 2022 20:26 , Sam Hancock
China grounds entire Boeing 737 fleet after crash, state media reports
Monday 21 March 2022 20:03 , Sam Hancock
Earlier, we reported that China had grounded its 737-800 fleet, which according to FlightRadar is made up of 109 such planes.
It came after a China Eastern Boeing passenger plane, with 132 people onboard, crashed in a remote mountainous area of southern China.
More than 12 hours after the crash, there is still no word of survivors.
FlightRadar24, the Swedish tracking site, said the jet involved in the accident is six years old.
The 737-800 is a predecessor to the Boeing’s 737 MAX, which awaits regulatory approval in China, the world’s largest domestic aviation market.
It has a maximum seating capacity of 189 and is equipped with a CFM-56 engine, according to Boeing’s website.
Rescue workers are reportedly still at the site near the city of Wuzhou, in Teng county, in the southern province of Guangxi.
‘It fell vertically from the sky’: Eyewitnesses recount plane crashing
Monday 21 March 2022 19:30 , Sam Hancock
Eyewitnesses have described the moment they saw a Boeing 737 plane crash into a mountainous region of southern China on Monday.
In an interview with state media outlet Beijing Youth Daily, one person described seeing a plane “falling directly from the sky” in front of him at around 2pm.
“The plane fell vertically from the sky. Although I was very far away, I could still see that it was a plane. The plane did not smoke during the fall. The fire started after it fell into the mountain, followed by a lot of smoke,” the witness, who was only identified by his surname, Liu, said.
“My heart was thumping,” he added.
In a separate interview with China News Service, a resident from Molang village in Tengxian county - close to the scene of the crash - claims to have seen “wings and pieces of the plane, as well as pieces of clothing hanging from trees” shortly after the incident.
The witness, whose name was not published, told state media he drove his motorcycle to the crash site after hearing “a huge explosion” at around 2.4pm to “see if he could participate in the rescue”. He added that he thought the accident caused around “10 acres of fire”.
All 132 people onboard crashed plane feared dead
Monday 21 March 2022 19:07 , Sam Hancock
A China Eastern Airlines plane with 132 people on board crashed in southern China on Monday after a sudden descent from cruising altitude, and there was no sign of any survivors amid the wreckage in the mountains.
“We are aware of the initial media reports and are working to gather more information,” a Boeing spokesperson said afterwards.
Despite there still being no official death toll, officials in China have been quoted as telling local media there was “no sign of life” among the scattered debris.
Our reporter Chiara Giordano on today’s events:
China plane crash: All 132 people on board feared dead after Boeing jet goes down
Watch: Video shows moment Chinese airliner nosedives before crashing in Guangxi
Monday 21 March 2022 18:45 , Sam Hancock
China Eastern and Boeing 737: What are their safety records?
Monday 21 March 2022 18:11 , Sam Hancock
The authorities in China continue to say a passenger aircraft crashed southwest of the southern city of Wuzhou on Monday.
China Eastern, the airline involved, confirmed the news earlier.
Here’s our travel correspondent Simon Calder with everything we know so far about the tragedy:
China Eastern and the Boeing 737: what are their safety records?
Watch: Fire rages after Boeing 737 jet 'crashes into mountainside' in China
Monday 21 March 2022 17:47 , Sam Hancock
In images: Rescue operation underway for crashed plane
Monday 21 March 2022 17:33 , Sam Hancock
China’s CGTN channel has been tweeting photographs of the crash site throughout the day.
In the state-run organisation’s latest post, rescue workers are reportedly pictured carrying out their operation to recovery any survivors or bodies from the crashed plane.
In pictures: Rescue operation underway for crashed plane #MU5735.
According to the on-site reporter from China Media Group, the location of the #Boeing737 airplane crash site is in a mountainous area with limited access and poor connection. pic.twitter.com/kUohkTnUNS— CGTN (@CGTNOfficial) March 21, 2022
It comes after parts of the plane were captured and published online.
Pictures from the scene of a #Boeing 737 crash in south #China.
latest: https://t.co/otZytipiEw pic.twitter.com/IBFrkJDsK3— CGTN (@CGTNOfficial) March 21, 2022
Video appears to show Boeing 737 nosedive before crashing in Guangxi
Monday 21 March 2022 17:02 , Sam Hancock
A clip published by Chinese media appears to show the moment a passenger plane carrying 132 people nosedives before crashing in Guangxi.
Horrifying footage shows the Boeing 737 plummeting straight down into a mountainous area near the city of Wuzhou. The plane, operated by China Eastern, was travelling from Kunming City to Guangzhou.
Xi Jinping, China’s president, has called for investigators to determine the cause of the crash, but has been reported by The People’s Daily that “there is no sign of life among the scattered debris”.
Watch the clip here:
Video purportedly shows moment Chinese plane nosedives before crashing in Guangxi
Pictured: Police in China block off route to crash site
Monday 21 March 2022 16:32 , Sam Hancock
BA sends condolences to crash victims' friends and families
Monday 21 March 2022 16:11 , Sam Hancock
The British-based carrier tweeted:
At British Airways, our thoughts today are with the friends and families of China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735.
— British Airways (@British_Airways) March 21, 2022
Context: China’s airline safety record ‘good’ – but lacks transparency
Monday 21 March 2022 16:06 , Sam Hancock
Following the crash today, here’s some background on China’s airline safety record, as reported by Reuters.
It has been among the best in the world for a decade but is less transparent than in countries like the US and Australia where regulators release detailed reports on non-fatal incidents.
According to Aviation Safety Network, China’s last fatal jet accident was in 2010, when 44 of 96 people on board were killed after an Embraer E-190 regional jet flown by Henan Airlines crashed on approach to Yichun airport.
In 1994, a China Northwest Airlines Tupolev Tu-154 crashed en route from Xian to Guangzhou, killing all 160 onboard in China’s worst-ever air disaster, according to Aviation Safety Network.
Monday’s disaster was the first fatal crash for China Eastern since 2004, when a plane crashed shortly after it took off from an airport in north China, killing 55, according to ASN.
Shanghai-based China Eastern was created in 1988 and is one of the largest three airlines in China, with one of the youngest fleet of planes. It ranked in recent years among the ten largest carriers in total passengers carried.
It is part of the SkyTeam Alliance and US carrier Delta Air Lines holds a 2 per cent stake.
Watch: Emergency services rush to wreckage of crashed plane
Monday 21 March 2022 15:44 , Sam Hancock
Boeing shares fall after 737 crashes in southern China
Monday 21 March 2022 14:53 , Sam Hancock
Shares of the US plane maker Boeing Co and its suppliers fell on Monday after a 737-800 China Eastern Airlines aircraft crashed in the mountains of southern China.
FlightRadar24, the Swedish tracking site, said the jet involved in the accident is six years old. Following the crash, Chinese state media said the airline has grounded its 737-800 fleet, which according to FlightRadar had 109 such planes.
The popular variant is a predecessor to the Boeing’s 737 MAX, which awaits regulatory approval in China, the world’s largest domestic aviation market. It has a maximum seating capacity of 189 and is equipped with a CFM-56 engine, according to Boeing’s website.
The CFM engines are made by a joint venture between General Electric Co (GE) and France’s Safran SA. GE shares were down by around 1 per cent, while France-listed Safran fell 3 per cent. The plane maker’s shares fell 4.5 per cent in early trading, while the Chinese airline’s US listed ADRs were down about 9 per cent, Reuters reports.
Parts suppliers Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc, Hexcel Corp and Triumph Group Inc were also down, between 1 per cent and 4 per cent.
CFRA Research analyst Colin Scarola said the crash should not technically impact the MAX’s recertification in China, where it has been grounded for three years following the two fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.
However, he did not rule out the country using the accident as an excuse to delay an approval. “China likely would not admit this is what they are doing. But we certainly think it could happen,” Scarola Scarola told the news agency.
