BREAKING NEWS | Boeing 737 Crashes in Wuzhou, 132 Passengers Feared Dead

CHINA, 21 MARCH 2022 | A Boeing 737-800 struck the ground in Teng County, Wuzhou one hour after departure.

At 1.11pm, MU5735, operated by B-1791, a 6.8-year-old Boeing 737-800 aircraft departed Kunming, bound for Guangzhou, with a scheduled arrival of 3.05pm. The aircraft had a special Yunnan Peacock Livery plastered on it.

About an hour later into a seemingly normal flight, tracking of the aircraft had been cut off at 2.22pm. In the final moments of tracking, the flight was seen to have dropped from 29,100ft to 7425ft rapidly, then recovering back to 8175ft. Seconds later, the aircraft began to plummet to its demise, falling 8,000ft in under 3 minutes.

The aircraft came to crash at a village in Wuzhou. Several villagers reported hearing a "loud, booming noise", followed by aircraft parts "disintegrating". Belongings of passengers were found scattered along the crash site, and the crash started a fire in the nearby mountains. First responders began to extinguish the fire and scavenge for survivors. All 132 passengers onboard have been feared dead. Videos started to circulate in social media showing the aircraft falling vertically downwards into the ground, nose first.

Final seconds of #MU5735 pic.twitter.com/gCoMX1iMDL

— ChinaAviationReview (@ChinaAvReview) March 21, 2022

Shares of China Eastern Airlines and Boeing started to fall following news of the incident. The airline then made their website black and white to express their condolences to the relatives of those onboard. Chinese President Xi Jinping called for all-out efforts to organise a search-and-rescue mission for the possible alive victims. He was shocked upon hearing news of the crash. The last fatal crash in China was back in 2010, when 44 of 96 passengers onboard lost their lives. China Eastern has since grounded their Boeing 737-800 fleet until further notice and investigations.

At the time, no bodies have been recovered from the crash site and there is no casualty count at the moment. However, it is highly likely that there will be no survivors to this incident.

China Eastern employees were also seen holding signs to lead the relatives of the plane crash victims to a separate area.

The aircraft that operated was not a Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, which led to 2 fatal crashes in 2018 due to Boeing's negligence. It was a Boeing 737-800, which did not include a MCAS system and is commonly used in fleets worldwide, with a relatively clean safety record.

One lucky passenger was reported to have cancelled their flight at the last minute, avoiding this catastrophic end to their life.

Likely causes of the incident could be due to mechanical failures or intentional/unintentional human errors. We will publish an article tomorrow with more information.

© 2022 Planeopedia
Written by: Sohail Sawlani
No copyright infringement intended.

Share this article with others!