China plane crash: Casualties unknown, Chinese President Xi 'shocked', orders all-out search, rescue efforts

Chinese President Xi Jinping said that he was shocked to learn about the crash of a passenger plane with 132 people aboard on Monday and ordered an all-out search and rescue efforts.

The Boeing 737 aircraft of China Eastern Airlines, which flew from Kunming to Guangzhou, crashed in Tengxian County in the city of Wuzhou in the southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, causing a mountain fire.

In his instructions issued soon after the incident, Xi said he was shocked to learn about the incident involving China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735 from Kunming to Guangzhou,

He ordered the immediate launch of emergency response, all-out search and rescue efforts and proper settlement of the aftermath, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

He said swift action should be taken to identify the cause of the crash and to strengthen the safety overhaul of the civil aviation sector to ensure the absolute safety of the sector and people's lives.

State-run CGTN reported that the first rescue team has reached the crash site in the remote mountains.

Meanwhile, China Eastern Airlines changed the colour of its website to black as it prepared to announce the casualties in the crash.

The 132 people included 123 passengers and nine crew members, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said on its website. The number of casualties is not clear yet, the report said. Rescuers have been assembled and are approaching the site.


The Wuzhou fire brigade has sent 117 firefighters with 23 fire trucks to the site. Further 538 firefighters from other parts of Guangxi have been dispatched to join the rescue efforts, the regional fire department said.

According to news portal The Paper, a staff member at Guangzhou's Baiyun International Airport said that flight MU5735 from Kunming to Guangzhou has not arrived at its destined time, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.

The domestic flight was scheduled to take off from Kunming at 1.10 pm (local time) and arrive at Guangzhou at 2.52 pm (local time) and is now marked out of reach on Baiyun airport's app.

Following the accident, videos and pictures purporting to come from the scene started circulating on social media showing smoke billowing from a hillside and wreckage on the ground.

China Eastern is one of China's three major air carriers.

China's airlines had recorded over 100 million continuous hours of safe flight as of February 19, according to Zhu Tao, an official with the Civil Aviation Administration, the Post reported.

The last domestic fatal incident was in 2010, when a plane crashed in Yichun, Heilongjiang province, killing 42 people.

With agencies inputs