A Boeing 737 carrying more than 133 people has crashed in mountains in China, with smoke seen billowing from the scene.
Chinese state television says the plane, flying from Kunming to Guangzhou, had an “accident” over Guangxi.
The China Eastern Airlines flight had 133 people onboard at the time of the incident, with nine crew members.
It is unknown how many casualties there are but rescue is said to be on its way to the mountainous region.
The Guangxi Emergency Management Department said in a statement: “A Boeing 737 passenger plane carrying 133 people from China Eastern Airlines crashed in Teng County, Wuzhou, Guangxi, and caused a mountain fire.
“At present, rescue teams have assembled and approached, and the casualties are unknown.”
Images shared on Twitter claimed to be of large pieces of the plane’s fuselage discovered in the area by locals.
The Aviation Safety Network tweeted: “We are following multiple unconfirmed reports about a possible accident involving China Eastern Airlines flight #MU5735 a Boeing 737-89P (B-1791) en route from Kunming to Guanghzou, China.”
Flight data claimed to be from the flight shows the plane, which was six-years-old, dropped thousands of feet to the ground in just minutes, giving crew little time to react to whatever the issue was.
MU5735 departed from Kunming to Guangzhou departed at 1:11 pm local time according to FlightRadar24 data.
The flight tracking ended at 2:22 p.m. (0622 GMT) an altitude of around 30,000 feet with a speed of 376 knots when it suddenly plummeted to the ground.
It had been due to land an hour later.
Several people on social media posted they were praying for those onboard the tragic flight.
China’s recent flight safety record before today was among the best in the world.
The last fatal plane crash in China was in 2010 when an Embraer E-190 regional jet flown by Henan Airlines crashed on approach to Yichun airport in low visibility.
Of the 96 people aboard, 44 were killed.
