A China Eastern Airlines passenger jet with about 130 people on board crashed in southern China Monday.
Driving the news: “At present, it has been confirmed that this flight has crashed,” the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said in an announcement, per CBS News.
Details: The flight intended to travel from Kunming city to Guangzhou, but it lost contact over the city of Wuzhou in the Guangxi region, according to CBS News.
- The plane reportedly crashed in Teng county near Wuzhou, hitting the mountains.
- The crash spurred a fire in the mountain area where it crashed.
- It’s unclear how many casualties there were.
What they’re saying: “China Eastern Airlines has activated the emergency mechanism, dispatched a working group to the scene, and opened a special line for emergency assistance to family members,” China Eastern Airlines said in a statement on its Weibo account, per CNN.
- Per The New York Times, President Xi Jinping said in a statement that officials should do their best to “handle the aftermath in a proper manner.”
Worth noting: The cause of the crash remains unclear.
- “Usually the plane is on auto-pilot during cruise stage. So it is very hard to fathom what happened,” Li Xiaojin, a Chinese aviation expert, said about the crash, per Reuters.