London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Sep 17, 2025

Chinese plane with 132 people onboard crashes in Guangxi province

State media reports that China Eastern 737 went down near city of Wuzhou, sparking mountainside fire

A passenger plane carrying 132 people has crashed in southern China, with no survivors announced so far, Chinese authorities have reported.

The China Eastern Airlines plane departed Kunming at 1pm, on route to Guangzhou. At about 2.20pm, according to data from Flightradar24, the plane, a Boeing 737, plummeted more than 20,000 feet in just over a minute. It then seems to have regained altitude momentarily, before dropping rapidly again. The plane crashed near the city of Wuzhou in Teng County, Guangxi province.

The Civil Aviation Administration said it had activated emergency protocols and sent a working group to the scene. State broadcasters said rescuers had been dispatched but there were no immediate details of casualties. China Eastern Airlines said it had also sent officials to the site in line with emergency measures.

Pictures from the scene of a Boeing 737 crash in south China.


Onboard were 123 passengers and nine crew members. State media said some family members of the passengers had arrived at the airline’s Yunnan branch by Monday evening. The airline said no foreign nationals were aboard the plane.

Several show a plume of smoke coming from a mountainous region. Other clips show intense flames around a circular area, while another clip appears to show plane wreckage with the name China Eastern Airline visible. Drone footage of the crash site published on Monday evening showed a deep scar in the ground, and very few large pieces of wreckage.

The Guardian has not independently verified the footage.

The Wuzhou fire rescue department said it had dispatched 23 firetrucks and 117 personnel to the site. Another 538 personnel had been ordered in from surrounding detachments as reinforcements. Firefighters could not reach the site by road, and so had walked part of the way into the forested region, state media said.


CCTV said the fire was contained within a few hours.

China’s leader, Xi Jinping, called for a prompt investigation into the cause of the crash, the country’s first major fatal air disaster since 2010.

Aviation experts in the UK said there could be multiple reasons for the crash before further evidence emerged. Tony Cable, an air accident investigator, said that possibilities included a “loss of control event” or high altitude stall.

Others said that the pattern of the flight shown on tracking sites, which saw the plane cruising at a steady altitude and speed before descending without any reported mayday call, and with no loss of data signal, appeared similar to the Germanwings crash in 2015. The Airbus A320 passenger plane was crashed deliberately into the French Alps by the pilot, killing himself and 149 people on board.

David Learmount, consulting editor at Flightglobal, said: “We don’t have any direct evidence but we can observe that at this stage when we had observed the Germanwings disappearance, when it descended to destruction the two profiles looked very similar – so it is worrying.”

An image taken from video footage run by China’s CCTV showing emergency personnel preparing to travel to the site of the plane crash.


The plane is a six-year-old Boeing 737-89P, according to flight data trackers. The Boeing 737-800s are among the most common passenger planes in the world, and different to the 737 Max, which was grounded worldwide after two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019.

China operates more of the planes than any other country, with 1,177 aircraft based there, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium. State media reported China Eastern Airlines had grounded all 737-800 planes.

China Eastern Airlines, a state-owned company and one of the biggest airlines in Asia, did not answer calls from the Guardian. Its homepage had switched to black and white, which state media said was to mark the crash.

Shares in Boeing fell 10% on news of the crash but have since climbed back to be just under 7% down.

A spokesperson for Boeing told the Guardian they were aware of initial media reports and were working to gather more information.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
Tens of Thousands of Young Chinese Get Up Every Morning and Go to Work Where They Do Nothing
The New Life of Novak Djokovic
The German Owner of Politico Mathias Döpfner Eyes Further U.S. Media Expansion After Axel Springer Restructuring
Suspect Arrested: Utah Man in Custody for Charlie Kirk’s Fatal Shooting
In a politically motivated trial: Bolsonaro Sentenced to 27 Years for Plotting Coup After 2022 Defeat
German police raid AfD lawmaker’s offices in inquiry over Chinese payments
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Volkswagen launches aggressive strategy to fend off Chinese challenge in Europe’s EV market
ChatGPT CEO signals policy to alert authorities over suicidal youth after teen’s death
The British legal mafia hit back: Banksy mural of judge beating protester is scrubbed from London court
Surpassing Musk: Larry Ellison becomes the richest man in the world
Embarrassment for Starmer: He fired the ambassador photographed on Epstein’s 'pedophile island'
Manhunt after 'skilled sniper' shot Charlie Kirk. Footage: Suspect running on rooftop during panic
Effective Protest Results: Nepal’s Prime Minister Resigns as Youth-Led Unrest Shakes the Nation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
King Charles and Prince Harry Share First In-Person Moment in 19 Months
×