China confirmed the death of the 132 passengers of the Boeing 737-800 that crashed on Monday, March 21

All 132 people aboard the Boeing 737-800 that crashed on Monday in southern China died, Chinese public television CCTV announced Saturday.

“All 123 passengers and nine crew members of China Eastern flight MU5735 died on board on 21 March,” said CCTV, quoting Deputy Director General of Civil Aviation Administration Hu Zhenjiang.

China Eastern Airlines' plane crashed on Monday in southwestern China. “He lost contact when he was flying over the city of Wuzhou,” in the Guangxi mountain region, as reported by the Chinese civil aviation administration CAAC, which indicated that the aircraft carried 123 passengers and 9 crew members, correcting previous reports of 133 people to board. According to Chinese state media, which cited sources from China Eastern, there were no foreign passengers.

“The company expresses its deep condolences for the passengers and crew members who died in the plane crash,” the company said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange, without giving details on the number of people killed.

The Boeing 737 crashed in a rural area near that city, and “set a fire” in the mountain, said Chinese CCTV television.

The flight was expected to last one hour and forty minutes, during which the almost seven-year-old aircraft had to travel the 1,357 kilometres between the two cities.

Shortly after the event, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for an investigation to clarify both the causes of the accident “as soon as possible” and other possible safety issues in the civil aviation sector.

A video shot by the security camera of a mining company and another shot by a motorist captured the shocking moment when the plane plummeted at high speed.

The airline that operated China Eastern canceled more than 1,900 flights in the Asian country on Tuesday, financial outlet Sina Finance reported.

This figure represents about 90% of the flights that were supposed to operate that day throughout China.

The airport in the southern city of Kunming, from where the wrecked plane took off, also experienced numerous cancellations on Tuesday: shortly before noon, airport authorities had canceled 223 flights, accounting for approximately 60% of the trips it had to manage today.

The airline, the second largest in the country by number of passengers, ordered that all of its Boeing 737-800 aircraft, the model of the crashed plane, remain on the ground after the accident until more information is available about what happened, according to the local press.

Other Chinese companies such as Shanghai Airlines and China United Airlines also decided to land their 737-800s for the time being.

According to data provided by Sina Finance, 23 Chinese airlines have 737-800 models in their fleet, and 853 flights of this model were scheduled for Tuesday in the Asian country.

China's state-owned media released drone footage on Wednesday showing where China Eastern Airlines' passenger plane crashed .

The video released by CGTN shows a depression in the soft ground caused by the impact of the accident, with the surrounding area charred by fire. The place, a spot of about a square kilometer, is located in a place surrounded by mountains on three sides, said state television.

(With information from AFP)

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