A shocking video showed the moment when the China Eastern plane that crashed in southern China plummets to the ground with 132 passengers on board.
The images were captured by the security cameras of the Chinese mining company Wuzhou Beichen Mining Co., which is only 5.8 kilometers from the village of Molang, where the plane crashed. The video was released by Chinese media and verified by Reuters.
In the filming you can clearly see the plane crashing on the ground at a very high speed. The vertical drop of the aircraft is impressive.
Another video, apparently shot from a motorist, showed the fall from another angle. Another film showed the devastation at the site of the impact.
There were 123 passengers and nine crew members on board the Boeing 737-800 when the incident occurred.
A witness named Li said he saw the plane fall from the sky when he was driving around 2 pm on Monday (March 21).
However, it is not possible to confirm that it is the plane or a large fragment of it.
The plane, which left Kunming at 13:11 local time, was on its way to Guangzhou. The accident would have occurred shortly after 14:22 local time, when the radar lost the aircraft signal. Rescuers were sent to the site from several provinces of China: in total there would be hundreds of people in the area, including firefighters and rescuers, but the chances of finding survivors are minimal.
As reported by the flight tracking site Flightradar24, flight MU5735 from Kunming to Guangzhou would have crashed about an hour after takeoff: landing was scheduled for 15:05 local time.
It is not clear what caused the accident, but the aircraft was traveling at more than 9,400 meters per minute (i.e. 157 meters per second), before falling - a very high speed. Only the black box will be left to clarify any doubts about the dynamics and causes of the crash.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said he was “shocked” by the incident and immediately ordered an investigation into the cause.
News in development...