By Samuel Osborne, skynews.
A China Eastern Airlines plane carrying 132 passengers has crashed and caused a fire in the mountains in Guangxi.
The crash involved a Boeing 737 travelling from Kunming to Guangzhou, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said.
Broadcaster CCTV said the crash occurred near the city of Wuzhou in Teng county.
Fire service working to control mountainside blaze
The number of casualties is not immediately known and rescue teams are on the way, CCTV said.
The CAAC said the aircraft lost control over the city of Wuzhou. It had 123 passengers and nine crew on board. Earlier state media said there were 133 people on board.
It said it had sent a team of officials and the Guangxi fire service said it was working to control the mountainside blaze ignited by the crash.
NASA satellite data showed a huge fire in the area where the plane went down.
Plane rapidly lost speed before sharp descent
According to FlightRadar24 data, the tracking for flight MU5735 from Kunming to Guangzhou ended at 2.22pm (6.22am GMT) at an altitude of 3,225ft with a speed of 376 knots. It showed the plane had rapidly lost speed after 2.20pm before entering a sharp descent.
The website for China Eastern Airlines was later changed to be in black and white, which airlines do in response to a crash as a sign of respect for the victims.
China’s last fatal jet accident was in 2010, when 44 of 96 people were killed when an Ambraer E-190 regional jet flown by Henan Airlines crashed on approach to Yichun airport in low visibility, according to Aviation Safety Network.
