The China Eastern Airlines aircraft carrying 133 passengers from Kunming to Guangzhou crashed in Guangxi on Monday, AFP and Reuters reported. The number of casualties were unknown. Reuter reported, that the plane, a Boeing 737 aircraft, had an “accident” in the region of Guangxi and caused a fire in the mountains.
Boeing 737: Highlights:
The China Eastern said that the cause of the crash, in which the plane came down at a rate of 31,000 feet a minute is still under investigation. The airline mentioned that a group of people has been sent to the site. As per the media, the plane has exploded and caused a fire destroying the nearby trees. It is also very clear by now that there is no sign of life among the rubble.
Air Disaster Timeline:
The aircraft with 123 passengers and 10 aircraft members on board, lost touch over the city of Wuzhou, China’s Civil Aviation Administration of China said. The flight left Kunming at 1:11p.m and reached Guangzhou at 3:05 p.m.
The plane was said to be six years old and had been flying at an altitude of 29,100 feet, Flightradar24 said. The data showed that it descended to 9,075 feet after 135 seconds. In another 20 seconds, aircraft was at a height of 3225 feet. And as per Boeing, 13% of the fatal commercial accidents occurred globally between 2011 and 2020 during cruise phase. Further, the weather was not really the problem as it showed partly cloudy conditions along with good visibility in Wuzhou at the time of the crash.
Investigation:
“Usually the plane is on auto-pilot during cruise stage. So it is very hard to fathom what happened,” said Li Xiaojin, a Chinese aviation expert. “From a technical point of view, something like this should not have happened.” President Xi Jinping called the investigators to identify the cause of the crash as soon as possible and to ensue aviation safety, CCTV reported.
The shares in China Eastern Airlines in Hong Kong close down to 6.5% after the news of the crash. Thus, China Eastern grounded its fleet of 737-800 planes after the crash. The 737-800 has always maintained a record for safety. However, this time every possible move has been initiated by the CAAC to receive more details regarding the plausible cause of the accident.
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