Plane carrying 132 crashes

Firefighters conduct search and rescue work near the site where a passenger plane with 132 people aboard crashed in Tengxian county in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. Photo provided to CHINA DAILY

President urges all-out search and rescue efforts after aircraft goes down in Guangxi

All-out search and rescue efforts were underway on Monday after a China Eastern Airlines aircraft carrying 132 people crashed in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region in the afternoon－ending China's 12-year air safety record.

Flight MU5735 left Kunming, capital of Yunnan province, at 1:11 pm and was scheduled to arrive in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, at 3:05 pm. Air traffic controllers lost track of the plane over Wuzhou, Guangxi. The flight was carrying 123 passengers and nine crew members.

No report on casualties was available as of press time.

In an instruction issued shortly after the crash, President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, said he was shocked to learn about the accident and asked for the immediate launch of an emergency response.

He also asked authorities to organize all-out search and rescue work and to appropriately deal with the aftermath of the accident.

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

Premier Li Keqiang also made an instruction on Monday, urging that utmost efforts be made to search for survivors and treat the injured. He also stressed that efforts be made to comfort the victims' families and provide them with necessary help.

Li asked authorities to release relevant information in a timely, accurate and evidence-based manner, find the cause of the accident and take measures to strengthen civil aviation safety management.

The crash site is in forest near Tengxian county's Molang village. In the afternoon, fire and rescue teams discovered aircraft debris scattered in the forest. No remains of passengers had been found, according to the Guangxi Regional Emergency Management Bureau's fire and rescue department.

A forest fire caused by the plane crash has been put out, Ou Ling, political commissar of the Wuzhou Fire and Rescue Brigade, told CCTV.

"A total of 622 firefighters have arrived at the scene, which is surrounded by mountains on three sides. There is only a narrow road that leads to the site, so heavy vehicles and machinery still can't get in," Ou said.

"Also, it's difficult to carry out search and rescue work at night when the electricity supply isn't stable . … We are drawing up a practical plan to ensure that the search and rescue work can be carried out efficiently."

More than 640 firefighters from nearby Yunnan and Guangdong provinces were dispatched to the crash site. Police officers and members of the People's Armed Police Force were also sent to the crash scene for search and rescue work, according to local authorities.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China and the Ministry of Emergency Management have sent task forces to the site to help with the rescue efforts.

Heavy rainfall was forecast for Monday night and Tuesday, according to the provincial meteorological department, which may hinder search and rescue work.

China has had a good air safety record over the past 4,227 days. The country's last major plane accident was in August 2010 in Heilongjiang province, when a flight from Harbin crashed in Yichun, killing 44 people.

China Eastern has grayed out its logo on its Weibo account and also changed its website to black and white－a sign of mourning after the crash was confirmed.

The airline's work group was also dispatched to the scene. A hotline has been opened for relatives of the passengers, while a gathering area for them was set up at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport.