China Eastern passenger plane carrying 132 crashes in Guangxi | President Xi orders probe | Pakistani PM expresses deep sorrow over the tragic incident
China Desk Report
BEIJING: A China Eastern Airlines aircraft carrying 132 people crashed in Southern China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region on Monday, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said.
President Xi Jinping has called for full rescue efforts.
The plane was traveling from Kunming, capital of Yunnan province, to Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province. Air traffic controllers lost track of the plane in Wuzhou, Guangxi. The flight was carrying 123 passengers and nine crew members.
The administration initiated the nation’s emergency response mechanism and dispatched a working group to the crash site to investigate. No information concerning casualties was available.
A village official, surnamed Zhou, who participated in the on-site rescue said the plane had completely disintegrated and he did not see remains of the victims at the scene, according to Chutian Metropolis Daily – a newspaper based in Wuhan, Hubei province.
The village official said the crash has caused a forest fire around the site. Firefighters have arrived and extinguished most of the blaze.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday expressed his deep grief over loss of lives in a passenger plane crash in China and expressed sympathies with the bereaved families.
The prime minister said “Deeply saddened by the tragic loss of lives in the passenger plane crash in China. We share the grief of our Chinese brothers and sisters and convey our deepest condolences and sympathies with the bereaved families”.
