Search teams began combing through a remote mountainous area in southern China on Tuesday as hopes of finding survivors from the China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 crash faded.
It is unknown exactly how many people died in the crash near the city of Wuzhou in the Guangxi region on Monday – it is believed to be 132 – and if there are any survivors, however while search teams remain optimistic, the chances of survival for those onboard are slim, especially as the crash sparked a forest fire with a blaze large enough to be seen on NASA satellite images.
The plane was about an hour into its flight, at an altitude of 29,000 feet, when it entered a steep, fast dive around 2:20 p.m., according to data from FlightRadar24.com. The plane plunged to 7,400 feet before briefly regaining about 1,200 feet in altitude, then dove again. The plane stopped transmitting data 96 seconds after starting to dive, AP reports.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, 68, has ordered a full investigation into the tragedy.
He wants to determine how the plane lost altitude so quickly. That is dependent on the hundreds of uniformed officials dispatched to the region finding the plane’s black box which is key to determining what caused the catastrophe.
Jinping has also called for an “all-out” effort from the search teams, in a rare intervention from the Communist dictator.
In this image taken from video footage run by China’s CCTV, rescuers and soldiers conduct search operations at the site of a plane crash in Tengxian County in southern China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Tuesday, March 22, 2022. Mud-stained wallets. Bank cards. Official identity cards. Some of the personal effects of 132 lives presumed lost were reportedly found. (CCTV via AP Video)
In a move to show the Chinese government is taking this matter seriously, Vice Premier Liu He, 70, has been dispatched to the crash site to orchestrate the search and rescue operation as well as the subsequent investigation, France 24 reports.
Chinese authorities have not publicly identified all of the victims as of yet, and they have made no indication that they are planning to – the Chinese government has previously withheld final death numbers from similar tragedies, including the Henan Airlines crash.
It also appears those who are related to or knew the victims on the flight from Kunming to Guangzhou may also be under pressure to avoid discussing the tragedy as a sister of one of the passengers opted to use a pseudonym when she spoke to the press.
A bus transporting rescue personnel arrives at Fenghuang village in Wuzhou on March 22, 2022, near the site where China Eastern flight MU5375 crashed the previous day. (NOEL CELIS/AFP via Getty Images)
Boeing has released a statement saying they are “working with our airline customers and are ready to support them.”
However, Boeing’s future in China may be in jeopardy as the third-largest state-owned airline – China Eastern Airlines – has grounded all 109 of its Boeing 737-800s for the foreseeable future.
China is the largest owner of Boeing 737-800s, with nearly 1,200 of the planes being used by Chinese companies, and experts have warned that if airlines are ordered to ground the planes, it “could have a significant impact on domestic travel” in the communist nation.