A Boeing Plane In China Crashes With 132 People On Board
A passenger plane with 132 people on board crashed in the mountainous area of southern China on Monday.
Lydia Kadima 
Rescue teams were rushed to the site to establish any sign of survivors, but the number of casualties is still unclear.
The Boeing 737-800 was on its way to Guangzhou Kunming when it crashed on a hillside in Wuzhou and caught fire. It had left Kuning at 13:11 local time and was scheduled to arrive in Guangzhou at 15:05 but went down before it reached its destination. The crashed plane was seven years old, and the model before it had also ended up in a plane crash.
The weather has been ruled out as the cause of the crash since good visibility was reported, but the cause of the crash is yet to be determined.
The incident comes as a shock to the nation as it has a good airline record, with the last major airplane accident being tracked down to 12 years ago. The accident has prompted the country’s president to launch an immediate probe into the cause.
China Eastern Airlines has reportedly been forced to ground all its 737s and sent investigators to the scene. Flight tracking data suggest that the plane lost height rapidly from its cruising altitude before hitting the ground.
Firefighters were the first to be dispatched to the scene and managed to put out the fire caused by the crash. Local villagers were able to record the incident; there is footage showing fire and smoke from the crash and plane debris on the ground.
China Eastern has set up a hotline to enable people to get information on those who had boarded the plane.
As an evident sign of mourning, the airline has greyed out its logo on its Weibo account and changed its website to black and white.
The airline has expressed its condolences to the family and friends of the passengers and crew members on the crashed Boeing 737-800.
