An emergency search and rescue was underway soon after a tragic plane crash in a mountainous area of south China.
The Boeing 737-800 was on a domestic route from Kunming to Guangzhou with 132 passengers on board, when it crashed on a hill in the Guangxi province.
The number of casualties is still unclear but the site of the crash was reported to be ablaze, and authorities are yet to confirm any survivors.
According to data from Flightradar24, the Chinese Eastern Airlines flight fell 20,000 feet before regaining altitude, but then fell again shortly after, leading to the impact.
The aircraft was only six-years-old, and the Boeing 737-800 is among the most common model of passenger plane worldwide.
The cause of the crash is unknown at this time, but early theories believe it could have been caused by a high altitude stall or a result of the pilots losing control.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping has requested an investigation into the crash, which holds eerie similarities to the 2015 Germanwings disappearance – a deliberate crash orchestrated by the pilot.
“We don’t have any direct evidence but we can observe that at this stage when we had observed the Germanwings disappearance, when it descended to destruction the two profiles looked very similar – so it is worrying.”
Of course, this is all speculation, and very little evidence has been uncovered so far. But more information will be provided in due course.
