Chinese Eastern Airline Plane Crash: A Look at China's Past Air Accidents
Mar. 21—A Chinese Eastern Airlines plane — a Boeing-737 — carrying 132 people, including nine crew members crashed in the country's southwestern province of Guangxi on Monday. Visuals of the crash circulated on social media showing a big fire on a mountain side. There is no immediate information on casualties and emergency teams have rushed to the spot.
China's airline industry safety record has been among the world's best over the past decade. China Eastern is one of the country's three major air carriers.
According to flight tracking service FlightRadar24, China Eastern flight MU5735 was traveling from Kunming to Guangzhou. China's aviation regulatory body said that contact with the aircraft was lost over Wuzhou city. FlightRadar24 data showed the flight departed the southwestern city of Kunming at 1.11 pm ( 10.41 am IST), and the tracking stopped at 2.22 pm ( 11.52 am IST).
Here's a look at some of China's recent air tragedies:
China Southern 737-300 jet crash
In 1992, China Southern flight 3943 departed Guangzhou to Guilin crashed on descent, killing all 141 people on board. The cause of the accident was reported as loss of control by the Aviation Safety Network.
China Northwest Airlines Tupolev 154M crash
In 1994, a Tupolev 154M operated by China Northwest Airlines as flight 2303 from Xian to Guangzhou crashed after take-off from Xian. The accident killed all 160 on board — 146 passengers and 14 crew. Around 24 seconds after the aircraft took off the pilots reported the aircraft was difficult to control. Activating the stall warning, the airplane suddenly rolled to the left and the aircraft began to break up.
According to Aviation Safety Network, this was China's worst-ever air disaster.
Embraer E-190 regional jet crash
In 2010, China's Embraer E-190 regional jet, flown by Henan Airlines, crashed on approach to Yichun airport in low visibility. According to Aviation Safety Network, 44 of 96 people on board were killed in the accident. This was China's last fatal air accident before Monday.
___
(c)2022 the Hindustan Times (New Delhi)
Visit the Hindustan Times (New Delhi) at www.hindustantimes.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
