No trace of survivors after plane crash in China with 132 people on board: what we know about the accident

About 18 hours after the crash, Chinese state media CCTV reported that the wreckage of the plane had been found but that no survivors had yet been located. The plane was carrying 132 passengers and nine crew members who had taken off shortly after 13:00 local time from the metropolis of Kunming (southwest). The destination was Guangzhou (south), some 1,300 km away. The aircraft lost contact over the city of Wuzhou in the mountainous region of Guangxi, said the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) without providing a casualty report. The causes of the disaster remain unknown.

  

According to the specialized site FlightRadar24, the aircraft, which was flying from Kunming (south-west) to Guangzhou (south), lost nearly 21,250 feet (6,477 m) in just one minute before disappearing from radar screens. Then, after a brief ascent, it plunged again, by 4,625 feet (1,410 m), according to the tracker, to be 3,225 feet (983 m) above the ground. There is no data for the flight after 2:22 p.m. Videos released by public media show a sort of clearing formed by the aircraft in a wooded area, with little recognizable debris, except for a piece of wing in the company's blue and red colors. The bodies and personal effects of the passengers were probably completely burned by the explosion of the aircraft on the ground, followed by a fire, told AFP a rescue worker who spent the night at the site. The search is complicated by the rugged terrain and dense vegetation, said the woman who declined to give her name.

 

The police blocked access to the site of the accident in a village surrounded by forests and rice fields. The explosion of the 737-800 caused like a thunderclap, a resident of Langnan village, named Ou, told AFP. We stopped working and went to see what was going on, he added, saying the fire had raged about a kilometer from his house.