Horrifying moment plane with 132 passengers 'nosedives' into Chinese mountain

21 March 2022, 08:30 | Updated: 21 March 2022, 14:37

Footage appears to show the moment the plane nosedives and crashes. Picture: Social media

By Asher McShane

Horrifying footage appears to show the moment a passenger plane with 132 passengers on board crashed into a mountain in China.

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The Boeing 737 passenger plane flight MU5735 from Kunming to Guangzhou came down in Guangxi province in southern China.

Footage posted online appears to a show an object - purportedly a plane - crashing in a straight, vertical plummet from the sky, similar to a nosedive. The actual impact cannot be seen behind the trees and it is unconfirmed if the clip does show the crash.

The China Eastern flight 5753 was travelling at around 30,000ft when it entered a dive.

Dash cam view of #PlaneCrash pic.twitter.com/f2H1KErOiM
— Vikas Tripathi (@vikasjournolko) March 21, 2022

Rescue teams are understood to be in attendance at the crash site. The number of casualties is unclear.

The crash has sparked a large fire on the hillside, as onlookers recorded the blaze from afar.

A huge plume of smoke could be seen rising over the forest, with tall flames rising in a snaking line around what appears to be part of the crash site.

Other social media users posted clips of wrecked plane parts strewn across the foliage, with some saying rescue teams had been dispatched.

坠机引发的山火。
飞机航班号是MU5735，机型为波音737-800，服役不到7年。 pic.twitter.com/VtvsNqOyWR
— iPaul🇨🇦🇺🇦 (@iPaulCanada) March 21, 2022

Chinese president Xi Jinping said he was "shocked" by the incident and called for an investigation.

The aircraft was due to fly from Kunming, in the south of the country, and fly east to Guangzhou at 1.15pm local time.

But it came down in Teng County, to the west of Guangzhou. Police first took calls from villagers alerting them about the crash around 2.30pm, or 6.30am GMT.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China [CAAC] said: "The CAAC has activated the emergency mechanism and sent a working group to the scene."

OMG
MU5735 Please reply！！！
Please reply！！！
😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/oBE89PH87F
— Timi.Chen (@TTabaoshab) March 21, 2022

It added that contact with the plane was lost over Wuzhou.

More than 100 rescuers are at the scene, the People’s Daily said, while Guangxi fire department is sending some 650 responders to the site.

Boeing, the US aerospace company, said it was "working to gather more information".

Reuters said China’s airline industry has had one of the best air safety records in the world in the past decade.

The last accident that resulted in deaths was in 2010, when a jet crashed coming in to Yichun airport during low visibility. A total of 44 of the 96 on board died.