In-depth: Rescuers for China Eastern Crash Racing Against Time, With China's Deputy Premier on Scene

A piece of the Boeing 737-800 NG passenger plane is in the valley in Wuzhou of South China"s Guangxi province.

BEIJING, March 21 (TMTPOST) -- In the wake of a China Eastern Airlines jet crash into the mountains in southern China"s Guangxi province, firefighters and rescuers are racing against time frantically. A high-level team, led by Chinese Deputy Premier Li He, has been dispatched to the scene to supervise rescue efforts.  

The ill-fated Boeing 737-800 NG plane of the Shanghai-headquartered airlines, with 123 passengers and nine crew members aboard, on Sunday afternoon plunged into the mountains in Teng county, Wuzhou city of South China’s Guangxi province. The plane was en route from Kunming, the capital of southwestern China"s Yunnan province, to Guangzhou, the capital of South China"s Guangdong province. 

On Sunday night, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang held an emergency meeting on the rescue work and the investigation into the crash, under the direct leadership of Chinese President Xi Jinping. Right after the meeting, Deputy Premier Liu He and State Councillor Wang Yong headed to Wuzhou to lead the rescue and related efforts.  

The Civil Aviation Administration of China, the regulator of the country"s civil aviation industry, activated the emergence response mechanism and sent a working team to the site, according to the website of the national regulator. 

Firefighters and rescue soldiers and professionals from three provinces, namely Guangxi, Guangdong and Yunnan, were rushed to the site on Sunday afternoon. As of 5: 15 pm Beijing time, the forest fire caused by the crash was put out. No flames were seen in the footage taken by a drone, according to the Guangxi Provincial Fire Department. A piece of the plane"s fuselage appeared to be lying on the ground of the forests, according to the same footage.

The crash site was in an abandoned mining area in a valley, without any villagers residing nearby. Another footage taken by Beichen Mining Company in Wuzhou, Guangxi also captured the headlong crash. 

A total of 117 personnel are reportedly searching the valley around the crash site around the o"clock while another 650 firefighters and rescuers are on the crash scene.      

China Eastern Airlines has confirmed that all passengers on board were Chinese nationals and there were no foreign passengers. No surviors or bodies of passengers or crew members have been found.

No casualties were reported but it is feared that few would survive the crash given the Boeing plane plunged at the speed of 845 kilometers per hour at 2:19 pm, according to records on Flightradar24, a flight tracker that shows real-time commercial aircraft flight information.

The MU 5735 flight took off at 1: 15 pm Beijing time from the Changshui International Airport, Kunming, Yunnan province. As of around 2:20 pm, the plane was flying at the height of 29,100 feet, which meant that no extreme weather conditions were likely to cause turbulence. It was about 150 miles or less than one hour away from the destination and everything seemed normal then. Suddenly, the plane plunged about 20,000 feet within three minutes, in a near-vertical dive. 

Thomas Jeffrey, the former editor of the Air Transport World, said the crash was shocking and saddening, adding that information available now was not enough to determine the cause of the crash.  He noted that China Eastern Airlines had nearly perfect safety records and the crash occurred with excellent air traffic control, an excellent airlines and an excellent type of plane.  

China Eastern Airlines is one of China’s largest airlines with over 600 operating jets, including 130 Boeing 737s. The crashed Boeing 737-800 NG plane, with a capacity of 189 passengers, had been in operation for six years and ten months.

Of nearly 25,000 passenger planes in service worldwide, 17% or about 4,200, are Boeing 737-800 NGs. China is home to nearly 1,200 of those narrow-bodied planes, followed by Europe with nearly 1,000, and the United States with nearly 800.

The 737-800 is part of the "next generation" family of Boeing"s 737 line-up. More than 7,000 have been built, with fewer than 25 accidents since they first took flight in 1997, according to CBS News.

China Eastern Airlines has announced that it will suspend the operation of all Boeing 737-800 planes, starting from Tuesday. “It is still uncertain whether the crash was caused by the plane itself. But the company has decided to suspend the operation of all Boeing 737-800 aircraft for safety concerns,” said China Eastern Airlines in a statement.

The plane lost contact with the ground traffic control before its scheduled landing in Guangzhou. No messages for help were ever received. The plane crashed in a mountainous area in Wuzhou, creating difficulties for the rescue team to enter and search the area.

Villagers in Wuzhou reported that they saw debris and fire and heard a loud noise around the time of the crash.

China had enjoyed an incredible air safety record. Zhang Zhonglin, a commentator of the civil aviation industry, said that China"s civil aviation records was the best among all countries in the past 12 years. The last airplane crash in the country took place in Heilongjiang province in 2010, killing 44 and injuring 52. 

The crash has sent China Eastern Airlines and Boeing’s stocks diving on the stock market. Boeing’s share price fell by 3.75% while China Eastern Airlines’ stock price slumped by 6.46% upon the writing of this report.

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