China Eastern Airlines Plane Crashes With 132 People On Board, Casualties Unknown

A China Eastern Airlines plane with 132 people on board has reportedly crashed in Tengxian county, local media reports said Monday. The number of casualties remains unknown.

The Boeing 737 crashed in south China, causing a mountain fire, Reuters reported, citing Chinese state television. The plane, MU 5735, took off from Kunming Changshui airport in southwest China's Yunnan Province, and was scheduled to arrive at Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province.

The search and rescue operations are currently underway.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for the immediate activation of an emergency mechanism for the plane crash. He also asked the search and rescue teams to spare no efforts.

However, many fear there might be no survivors in the crash.

The Wuzhou Fire Brigade deployed a rescue team to the scene of the accident.

"We sent 25 fire engines and 117 firefighters to the scene, but as the accident site is too remote and in the mountains, fire engines could not reach the wreckage, firefighters had to enter on foot," an officer told the Global Times.

According to data from flight-tracking website FlightRadar24, the Boeing 737-89P rapidly lost speed before entering a sharp descent. The plane stopped transmitting data just southwest of the Chinese city of Wuzhou.

Several videos of a plane crash were shared on Twitter. However, the authenticity of these videos could not be independently confirmed.

Following the crash, the Boeing Co. shares fell 6% in premarket trade Monday.

This is the first air crash in China since a fatal incident took place in Yichun, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province back in 2010. The Yichun crash killed 44 people.

This is a developing story.