Chinese airliner carrying 133 crashes in Guangxi

Beijing: A Chinese passenger aircraft with 133 people onboard crashed near Wuzhou city in the country’s Guangxi region on Monday. According to Chinese state media, the plane belonged to the China Eastern Airlines was flying from Kunming to Guangzhou.

Local media reports claim that the crash, which involved a Boeing 737 aircraft, caused a fire on the mountains. An operation, meanwhile, has been launched to rescue the 133 people onboard.

“A China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 plane carrying 133 people has crashed in Teng county, Wuzhou, Guangxi, and caused a mountain fire,” said CCTV, China’s state broadcaster, according to AFP.

There was no word on the cause of the crash of the plane, a 6-year-old 737-800 aircraft, according to Flightradar24. The China Eastern flight from Kunming to Guangzhou departed at 1.11 pm (0511 GMT), FlightRadar24 data showed.

The flight tracking ended at 2.22 pm (0622 GMT) an altitude of 3225 feet with a speed of 376 knots. It had been due to land at 3.05 pm (0705 GMT). The safety record of China’s airline industry has been among the best in the world over the past decade.

Boeing 737 has been involved in several accidents. However, in November last year, China’s aviation regulator told airlines that it is satisfied that design changes Boeing proposed for its 737 MAX plane that could resolve safety problems.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) invited airlines to give feedback on a proposed airworthiness directive for the 737 MAX by November 26, according to Reuters.