March 22, 2022: On Monday, China’s aviation authority that a China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 crashed with 132 people on board, which included 123 passengers and nine crew members.

The authority said that contact was lost with the flight over Wuzhou in the mountainous Guangxi region. It was scheduled to fly from Kunming to Guangzhou in the country’s southeast.

The flight, believed to be the MU5735, left Kunming at 1:11 p.m. local time and was due to arrive at its destination in under two hours, according to information on FlightRadar24. The flight-tracking website shows that the Boeing 737-800 plane descended sharply after 2:20 p.m. local time.

The number of casualties is unknown. China’s Civil Aviation Administration said it had “activated the emergency mechanism and dispatched a working group to the scene,” according to a translation. Chinese state media also said that the crash had caused a mountain fire.

China Eastern Airlines is confirming the crash and the number of people on board via a statement on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter. The airline said it was sending workers to the crash site and had opened a hotline for family members.

The Federal Aviation Administration said it is “aware of reports that a China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 plane crashed this morning in China.”

“The agency is ready to assist in investigation efforts if asked,” the FAA said. Boeing said it was “aware of the initial media reports” and is gathering more information.

When a crash occurs, the country where the crash occurs leads the investigation, but Boeing as the manufacturer and its regulator, the FAA, will likely be involved.

China Eastern is changing the colors of its website to black and white; something airlines do following a crash out of respect for any casualties.

According to state media CCTV, Chinese President Xi Jinping said he was “shocked” to learn of the incident. He instructed China Eastern to organize search and rescue efforts and started an investigation into the cause of the crash.

The severe last passenger plane crash in China was in 2010 when 42 people died on a Henan Airlines Embraer E-190 flight.