It is a sad day for aviation. In China, a China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800, carrying 132 passengers, has crashed today in Guangxi in Southern China.

The seven-year-old Boeing aircraft (not a Boeing 737 MAX, for clarification), registered B-1791, lost altitude at approximately 3:30 pm local time; subsequently crashing. A screengrab from flight tracking website Flightradar24 indicates that the plane lost altitude at the speed of 31,000 feet per minute after being over one hour in cruise mode of the flight. The aircraft fell from 29,100 feet to ground level in two and a half minutes.

While there is not enough information going around at this time, the Chinese aviation regulator CAAC has issued a statement regarding the crash. It confirms that flight MU5735 has crashed and there are a total of 132 souls on board. 9 crew and 123 members. CAAC has initiated its protocols and special units are going to the crash site.

Unverified social media posts show aircraft wreckage strewn across farmland, as well as smoke billowing from a large fire on a wooded hill. There is also a video showing a projectile ramming into the ground, being widely circulated. We won’t be sharing the footage out of respect to those on board and their families.

This is still a breaking story, so we don’t have all the details, and will update the story as and when more details emerge. We pray for the souls on board.

Bottomline

A Boeing 737-800, operating for China Eastern Airlines, has crashed today, during a domestic operation, in what is almost a free fall vertically. There were 132 souls on board, and the aircraft operating the flight was a seven-year-old aircraft.

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