WATCH: In China, a plane carrying 132 crashes; casualties unknown

Beijing, Mar 21: A China Eastern Boeing 737 with 132 people on board crashed in the southern province of Guangxi on Monday. The Civil Aviation Administration of China said in a statement the crash occurred near the city of Wuzhou in Teng county. The flight was traveling from Kunming in the western province of Yunnan to the industrial center of Guangzhou along the east coast, it added.

 

 

There was no immediate word on numbers of dead and injured. The plane was carrying 123 passengers and nine crew members, the CAAC said, correcting earlier reports that 133 people had been on board. It said it had sent a team of officials, and the Guangxi fire service said work was underway to control a mountainside blaze ignited by the crash.

 

 

Satellite data from NASA showed a massive fire just in the area of where the plane went down at the time of the crash. Shanghai-based China Eastern is one of China’s top three airlines, operating scores of domestic and international routes serving 248 destinations.

 

China’s last deadly crash of a civilian jetliner was in 2010.