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China plane crash: ‘No survivors’ after emergency workers comb site for 18 hours
The Boeing 737-800 flight from Kunming in southwest China to southern China’s Guangzhou city crashed on Monday afternoon, the first passenger jetliner crash in the country since 2010
BEIJING: Emergency workers on Tuesday continued to comb the heavily forested areas of southern China’s Guangxi region for survivors from the China Eastern Airlines flight that crashed with 132 people on board on Monday.
Beijing has yet to confirm the casualty figures, though state-controlled media said the situation was grim.
“Wreckage of the plane was found at the scene, but up until now, none of those aboard the plane with whom contact was lost has been found,” state broadcaster CCTV said on Tuesday morning, more than 18 hours after the crash.
The Boeing 737-800 flight (MU5735) from Kunming in southwest China to southern China’s Guangzhou city crashed on Monday afternoon, the first passenger jetliner crash in the country since 2010.
Two senior Communist Party of China (CPC) leaders — Liu He, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council, and State Councilor Wang Yong — had reached the site to coordinate the search and rescue operation and direct investigations into the accident, Chinese state media reported today.
The State Council, or China’s cabinet, said in a statement that it would assign officials to deal with the accident as a priority, identify the cause as soon as possible, and strengthen the investigation of safety hazards in the civil aviation sector to ensure the safety of operations and people’s lives.
Chinese state media reported that there is little chance of survival for those aboard. “…as the flight data showed, the plane lost its radar information two minutes after it suddenly descended from cruising altitude of around 8,869 metres,” they said.
An unverified video circulated online showed the plane vertically falling to the forest.
“In terms of the casualties, the situation appears grim, and the possibility of all on board perishing cannot be ruled out. Moreover, search and rescue is difficult due to the terrain around the crash site, while the impact of wildfires will present a high risk to anyone who managed to survive the crash,” Wang Yanan, chief editor of Beijing-based Aerospace Knowledge, told the tabloid Global Times.
This is the first air crash in China since a fatal incident took place in Yichun, northeast China’s Heilongjiang province, in 2010 that killed 44 people.
The Global Times report said that Monday’s crash ended a record of 4,227 safe flight days in the history of civil aviation worldwide.
China Eastern Airlines, one of the three state carriers in the country, is said to have grounded all Boeing 737-800 aircraft following the mishap.
Meanwhile, the incident could set back the US company’s efforts to regain ground in the world’s biggest aircraft market and deliver more than 140 Boeing 737 MAX jets already constructed for Chinese customers.
“The 737-800 that crashed on Monday does not have the equipment that led to the 737 MAX crashes more than three years ago, but that may not make a difference to Chinese passengers and a national regulator known for scrupulous safety requirements,” Reuters reported.
