Flight MU5735 Crash Theory: 'Human-Induced Event' Not Technical Issue Caused Catastrophe, Expert Says

It was unlikely that a technical issue caused the China Eastern’s horrific passenger jet crash Monday, an Australian aviation expert has said.

The aircraft, which was en route to Guangzhou after taking off from Kunming, in the southwest, was carrying 132 people. The Boeing 737-800 plunged into a mountain near the southern Chinese city of Wuzhou.

As of Tuesday, rescue workers have found no survivors. A horrifying CCTV footage emerged on social media within hours of the deadly crash, reportedly showing the flight nosediving vertically from 30,000 feet towards the ground.

Aviation expert Neil Hansford raised doubts about the cause of the crash, saying there could be four likely scenarios that led to the catastrophe. However, he ruled out technical issues.

“Even with total loss of power, no aircraft plummets to the ground from 20,000 feet in two minutes with an event at 8,000 feet,” Hansford explained to News.com.au. “I think aircraft technical failure can be ruled out and it will be an external event... I would get on a Boeing 737-800 in an instant with an Australian carrier, so my suggestion would be it won’t be Boeing or aircraft technical related.”

It is not yet clear what forced the sudden dip in altitude. Local media reports said the plane’s black boxes – which could shed light on what had happened to the jet – have not yet been found among the debris.

“It is very unlikely the pilot passed out as the non-flying pilot would have been able to very safely take over the flying and land the aircraft,” he explained. “Likely scenarios include pilot suicide, aircraft mid-air collision with military aircraft (they don’t have transponders like civil aircraft), [flight MU5735] was struck by a missile or an on-board explosion.”

“My tipping is a human-induced event or bought down by rogue missile. Debris looks like MH117 over Ukraine, and the Chinese are providing too much information this time which is uncharacteristic," he was quoted as saying by News.com.au.

Flight tracker FlightRadar24 showed the plane sharply dropping from an altitude of 29,100 feet to 9,075 feet in 2.15 minutes. In another 20 seconds, the plane's altitude was 3,225 feet, before flight contact was lost. This decline in altitude, from cruising to landing, usually takes about 30 minutes.

International Business Times could not independently verify Hansford's theory about what may have caused the crash.