China Eastern Airlines has confirmed that a Boeing 737 aircraft on a flight from the city of Kunming to Guangzhou with 132 people aboard has crashed into a mountainous area in southern China.
According to multiple reports, the airliner slammed into a thick forest of bamboo on a hillside in Guanxi province. It’s China’s most deadly plane crash for decades.
A video posted by the South China Morning Post shows thick smoke and huge flames rising from the site of the crash.
Another video shared on social media appeared to show the aircraft streaking into the ground in a nose-down vertical position. U.S. government-backed Radio Free Asia reported that the video was captured by CCTV at a mine.
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Citing flight tracking data from FlightRadar24, The Daily Beast reported that the aircraft was cruising at 29,100 feet at 2.20 p.m. Some two minutes later it had dropped to just over 9,000 feet and 20 seconds after that to just 3,225 feet. FlightRadar said that indicated a vertical descent of 31,000 feet per minute—or around 350 mph.
Major #planecrash in #China, Boeing 737 plane crashed into the mountains, 132 passengers were on board.
we can see the falling plane in CCTV footage. pic.twitter.com/sMmbZjMSO4
— Rajan Kumar Jha (@RealRajanjha) March 21, 2022
BREAKING: Reported footage of China's #MU5735 plane crash https://t.co/Lishlp3ejL pic.twitter.com/0UdTZdcYxe
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) March 21, 2022
Read the full report on The Daily Beast.
