No survivors found in China Eastern plane crash

No survivors have been found as rescuers on Tuesday searched the scattered wreckage of a China Eastern plane carrying 132 people that crashed a day earlier on a wooded mountainside in China's worst air disaster in more than a decade.

"Wreckage of the plane was found at the scene, but up until now, none of those aboard the plane with whom contact was lost have been found," state broadcaster CCTV said, more than 18 hours after the Monday afternoon crash.

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Plane carrying 132 people crashes in China

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The Boeing 737-800 crashed near the city of Wuzhou in the Guangxi region while flying from Kunming in the southwestern province of Yunnan to the industrial center of Guangzhou along the east coast. It ignited a fire big enough to be seen on NASA satellite images.

The crash created a deep pit in the mountainside, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, citing rescuers. The report said drones and a manual search would be used to try to find the black boxes, which hold the flight data and cockpit voice recorders essential to crash investigations.

A piece of wreckage of the China Eastern's flight MU5735 seen after it crashed in Tengxian County, China. AP

A base of operations was set up near the crash site with rescue vehicles, ambulances and an emergency power supply truck parked in the narrow space. Soldiers in camouflage joined helmeted rescue workers in orange jump suits in combing the charred crash site and surrounding heavily dense vegetation.

The steepness of the slope made positioning of heavy equipment difficult, although with few large pieces of the aircraft remaining, there appeared little need for their use.

China Eastern Flight 5735 was flying at 29,000 feet (8,840 metres) when it entered a steep, fast dive around 2:20pm local time, according to data from FlightRadar24.com. The plane plunged to 7,400 feet (2,255 metres) before briefly regaining about 1,200 feet (370 metres) in altitude, then dove again. The plane stopped transmitting data 96 seconds after starting to dive.

The plane was carrying 123 passengers and nine crew members, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said. It was about an hour into the flight, and nearing the point at which it would begin descending into Guangzhou, when it pitched downward.

Associated Press