Catastrophic plane crash kills 132 in China

 A Boeing 737 carrying 132 people that plummeted 30,000ft to the ground and burst into flames in China suffered a catastrophic ‘loss of control event’, experts have warned.

The China Eastern Airlines flight nosedived before smashing into the hillside and erupting in a huge fireball near the city of Wuzhou in Teng county in the southern province of Guangxi – with no sign of survivors.

A rescue official reportedly said the plane had completely disintegrated while a fire sparked by the crash ripped through bamboo and trees before being put out.

What do experts think could have caused the horror crash that is feared to have killed all 132 on board?

Experts believe MU5735 likely went down due to a ‘loss of control event’.

But they also raised other possibilities that could have downed the jet, including:

• High altitude stall

The aircraft may have nosedived due to a ‘high altitude stall’ which cut off the power. Arthur Rowe, specialist fellow in gas turbine performance and operability centre for propulsion engineering at Cranfield University, said this could have lead to the loss of control event.

• Controls malfunction

Another possible cause was that the controls malfunctioned in the cockpit. Professor Rowe said they may have ‘jammed’, adding that ‘unresponsive control surfaces, especially on the tail’, are what could have downed the jet.

• Sabotage:

There were also fears sabotage could have played a part, but this was deemed unlikely due to it being a domestic flight in China. Professor Rowe said the Covid restrictions on entering the country reduced the chance of this being at play.

• Not engine related:

The expert did not believe the plane went down due to any engine related issues. Professor Rowe pointed out that aircraft ‘can fly perfectly well with no engine power’, but admitted it was only for a limited time.

• Sensory issues such as ice protection failures:

Senor issues could also have caused the plane to have spiralled out of control. Tao Yang, associate professor of engineering at Nottingham University, said ‘most of the aeroplane accidents are related to sensors failure – ice protection fails’.

Horrifying CCTV footage emerged on social media supposedly showing the jet racing vertically towards the ground in the moments before the smash.

President Xi Jinping said that he was ‘shocked’ by the incident and immediately ordered an investigation into the cause.

  

It is not yet clear what forced the sudden dip and crash, but aviation experts told MailOnline it may have been ‘a loss of control event, possibly following a high altitude stall of the aircraft’ or a sensory failure in the cockpit.

The plane, flight number MU5735 from Kunming to Guangzhou, is believed to be a Boeing 737-89P, which is not part of the MAX series that has been dogged by problems in recent years.

The crash will renew calls for China to make its aviation safety record – which is considered good but allegedly sees an underreporting of safety lapses – more transparent.

China’s Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said the aircraft lost contact over the city of Wuzhou.

It had 123 passengers and nine crew on board. State media said earlier there were 133 people on board.

The CAAC said in a statement: ‘The CAAC has activated the emergency mechanism and sent a working group to the scene.’

The Aviation Safety Network said: ‘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 Guangzhou, China.’

President Xi said: ‘We are shocked to learn of the China Eastern MU5735 accident.

He also called for ‘all efforts’ towards the rescue and to find out the ’cause of the accident as soon as possible’.

One villager told a local news site the plane involved in the crash had ‘completely fallen apart’ and he had seen forest destroyed by the fire caused by the crash.

A local official added: ‘The exact location of the accident was Langnan township in Teng county.’

The flight departed the southwestern city of Kunming at 1.11pm (5.11pm GMT), FlightRadar24 data showed.

But tracking ended at 2.22pm (6.22am GMT) at an altitude of 3,225 feet with a speed of 376 knots.

The plane had been cruising at an altitude 29,100 feet at 6.20am GMT, according to FlightRadar24 data.

Just over two minutes and 15 seconds later, the next available data showed it had descended to 9,075 feet. In another 20 seconds, its last tracked altitude was 3,225 feet.

It had been due to land in Guangzhou, on the east coast, at 3.05pm (7.05am GMT).

A huge force of 23 fire trucks and 117 rescuers were said to have been deployed to help in the search.

Shares of Boeing Co were down 6.4 per cent at $180.44 in premarket trade.

Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The website of China Eastern Airlines was later presented in black and white, which airlines do in response to a crash as a sign of respect for the assumed victims.

Arthur Rowe, specialist fellow in gas turbine performance and operability centre for propulsion engineering at Cranfield University, told MailOnline: ‘It looks most likely a loss of control event, possibly following a high altitude stall of the aircraft.

‘As usual there are multiple possible causes. Jammed or unresponsive control surfaces, especially on the tail are one.

‘An inappropriate combination of autopilot settings is another – I’m not familiar with the details of this aircraft’s flight controls though.

‘Sabotage, although that’s probably unlikely on a domestic Chinese flight given the Covid restrictions on entering the country.

‘It’s unlikely to be engine related as aircraft can fly perfectly well with no engine power – for a limited time obviously.’

Professor Bharath Ganapathisubramani, from Southampton University’s engineering and physical sciences department added: ‘Having looked at this and discussed with colleagues, we think that it is far too early to even speculate on possible causes.

‘If the Flight Data Recorder and slash or the Cockpit Voice Recorder are found and are in a usable condition, we should know much more in a few months’ time, with a final, definitive answer to what caused the tragedy likely to emerge in a year or so – based on the typical timelines of such events.’

Tao Yang, associate professor in engineering at Nottingham University, said: ‘The plane was completely out of control and at this stage it is very difficult to say what has happened.

‘However, most of the aeroplane accidents are related to sensors failure – ice protection fails.’

Aviation data provider OAG said this month state-owned China Eastern Airlines was the world’s sixth-largest by scheduled weekly seat capacity and the biggest in China.

It has had a relatively strong performance in the domestic market during the coronavirus pandemic despite tight curbs on international flights, OAG said.

It is one of China’s top three airlines, operating scores of domestic and international routes serving 248 destinations.

The aircraft was delivered to China Eastern from Boeing in June 2015 and had been flying for over six years.

The twin-engine, single aisle Boeing 737 is one of the world’s most popular planes for short and medium-haul flights.

China Eastern operates multiple versions of the common aircraft, including the 737-800 and the 737 Max. The 737 Max version was grounded worldwide after two fatal crashes.

China’s aviation regulator cleared that plane to return to service late last year, making the country the last major market to do so.

The popular 737-800 variant has a maximum seating capacity of 189 and is equipped with CFM-56 engine, according to the planemaker’s website.

The engines are made by a joint venture between General Electric Co and France’s Safran SA.

The safety record of China’s airline industry has been among the best in the world in the past decade.

But it is also less transparent than in countries like the US and Australia where regulators release detailed reports on non-fatal incidents, said Greg Waldron, Asia managing editor at industry publication Flightglobal.

‘This makes it hard to get a sense of the true situation with Chinese carriers,’ he said. ‘There have been concerns that there is some underreporting of safety lapses on the mainland.’

According to Aviation Safety Network, China’s last fatal jet accident was in 2010, when 44 of 96 people were killed when an Embraer E-190 regional jet flown by Henan Airlines crashed on approach to Yichun airport in low visibility.

The 737-800 model that crashed today has a good safety record and is the predecessor to the 737 MAX model that has been grounded in China for more than three years following fatal crashes in 2018 in Indonesia and 2019 in Ethiopia.

Boeing was forced to stop the 737 Max after the crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia happened less than six months apart.

The first disaster happened October 29, 2018, when a Max flying as Lion Air flight JT 610 fell into the Java Sea 15 minutes after taking off from Jakarta.

All 189 aboard the plane died, including 180 Indonesians, one Italian and one Indian. The second was on March 10, 2019, when Ethiopian Airlines slight ET 302 took off from the Ethiopian capital and crashed.

All 157 people onboard the plane died. The plane was grounded around the world and thousands of holidaymakers and travellers missed their flights.

Boeing reported on July 14, 2019, that customers cancelled orders for 60 of the grounded 737 MAX jets in June.  The aircraft maker removed another 123 planes from its backlog over doubts that the deals will be completed.

In 1992, a China Southern 737-300 jet flying from Guangzhou to Guilin crashed on descent, killing all 141 people on board, according to Aviation Safety Network.

Most of the passengers onboard the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which disappeared in March 2014 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, were from China.

BOEING’S 737 MAX: WHAT WENT WRONG

October 29, 2018: A Lion Air 737 MAX plane crashes in Indonesia, killing all 189 people on board

November 13, 2018:– FAA, Boeing say they are evaluating the need for software or design changes to 737 MAX jets following the Lion Air crash

November 30, 2018: Boeing is weighing plans to launch a software upgrade for its 737 MAX in six to eight weeks that would help address a scenario faced by crew of Indonesia’s Lion Air, sources told Reuters

March 10, 2019: An Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX crashes, killing all 157 people on board

March 12, 2019: FAA says will mandate that Boeing implement design changes on the 737 MAX by April that have been in the works for months

March 13, 2019: FAA joins other major global regulators in grounding the 737 MAX, citing evidence of similarities between the two fatal crashes

April 6, 2019: Boeing says it will cut monthly 737 MAX production by nearly 20%; U.S. and airline officials say they believe the plane could be grounded for at least two months

May 16, 2019: Boeing says it has completed a software update for its 737 MAX jets and is in the process of submitting a pilot training plan to the FAA

June 27, 2019: Boeing says it will take until at least September to fix a newly identified problem with software that emerged when FAA test pilots were reviewing potential failure scenarios of the flight control computer in a 737 MAX simulator

July 18, 2019: Boeing says it has assumed regulatory approval of the 737 MAX’s return to service in the United States and other jurisdictions will begin early in the fourth quarter

October 24, 2019: Boeing says it still expects FAA approval to fly the 737 MAX in the fourth quarter, sending its shares higher despite a slump in quarterly profit. FAA says it will need ‘several weeks’ for review

November 7, 2019: U.S. and European regulators ask Boeing to revise documentation on its proposed 737 MAX software fix

November 11, 2019: Boeing says it expects the FAA to issue an order approving the plane’s return to flight in December, forecasting commercial flights to resume in January

November 15, 2019: The head of the FAA tells his team to ‘take whatever time is needed’ in their review of the 737 MAX

December 11, 2019: FAA chief Steve Dickson says 737 MAX will not be cleared to fly before the end of 2019

December 12, 2019: Boeing abandons its goal of winning regulatory approval for the 737 MAX to resume flying in December after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the plane would not be cleared to fly before 2020

December 23, 2019: Boeing fires CEO Dennis Muilenburg

January 6, 2020: An audit conducted in December reveals that wiring in the tail of the 737 MAX could short circuit and lead to a crash if pilots don’t know how to respond correctly

January 9, 2020: Boeing releases hundreds of internal messages between employees to the Congress and the FAA last week, raising serious questions about its development of simulators and showing employees may have covered up issues

January 13, 2020: Budget airliner Ryanair reveals it could receive its first deliveries of up to 10 grounded 737 MAX aircraft from Boeing by April, but cautions this will depend on the regulators

January 16, 2020: Committee, appointed by Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao in April, finds the FAA safety approval process was not at fault

January 21, 2020:  Boeing announces it does not expect federal regulators to approve its changes to the grounded 737 Max until this summer, several months longer than the company was saying just a few weeks ago

November 18, 2020: The FAA rescinds the order that halted commercial operations of the 737 Max

December 29, 2020: American Airlines Flight 718, which left Miami around 10:30am and landed after 1pm in New York, becomes the first commercial flight of the Boeing 737 Max

January 7, 2021: Boeing agrees to pay more than $2.5 billion in a legal settlement with the Justice Department stemming from the 737 Max debacle. The agreement resolves a criminal charge that Boeing conspired to defraud the Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates the company and evaluates its planes. Boeing will establish a $500 million fund to compensate the families of those who died and pay a fine of nearly $244 million. The company will also pay $1.77 billion in compensation to its airline customers who were unable to use or take deliveries of the Max, which remains grounded in some parts of the world.

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US Marines identify four dead in Norway jet crash

The US Marine Corps has identified its four members killed in a plane crash during Nato military exercises in Norway last week.

Captain Matthew Tomkiewicz, 27, Capt. Ross Reynolds, 27, Gunnery Sgt. James Speedy, 30, and Cpl. Jacob Moore, 24, died on Friday, the Marines said.

All four were aboard an Osprey aircraft that crashed in bad weather.

“These Marines were simply doing what they loved,” their commanding general said on Facebook.

“We Honour them by taking to the skies again with their memory in our hearts, with nerves of steel, and ready to answer our great Nation’s call,” Major General Michael Cederholm wrote.

The fallen Marines were participating in Cold Response, a Norwegian-led military exercise that involves over 30,000 soldiers from 27 different countries.

The aircraft was supposed to make a landing at 18:00 GMT on Friday but was reported missing by Norwegian authorities amid bad weather conditions.

Local police in Norrland County confirmed on Saturday morning that the crew had been killed in the accident.

The downed jet was later discovered near the town of Bode and the bodies of the four crew members were retrieved via Royal Norwegian Air Force helicopter.

It is the first time an Osprey has crashed in five years.

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China Eastern: Plane carrying 132 people crashes in Guangxi hills

A Chinese passenger plane with 132 people on board has crashed in a forested hillside in southern China.

The China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 was flying from Kunming to Guangzhou when it plunged to earth in Guangxi province and caught fire.

The number of casualties and reason for the crash are not yet known. Rescuers have seen no signs of survivors.

Chinese airlines generally have a good safety record – the last major accident took place 12 years ago.

The crash has caused shock in China where President Xi Jinping has ordered an immediate investigation to determine the cause. China Eastern Airlines has grounded all its 737-800s.

Flight tracking data suggested the plane lost height rapidly from its cruising altitude before plummeting to the ground.

More than 600 emergency responders are said to be at the crash site. Firefighters reached the scene first and managed to extinguish a blaze in the hills caused by the crash.

Footage taken by local villagers and shared on Chinese social media – and by state broadcasters – showed fire and smoke from the crash, and plane debris on the ground.



Air safety and aviation standards in China have improved vastly in recent decades following a series of accidents in the 1990s and crashes such as this are now very rare.

The country’s last major plane accident was in August 2010, when a flight from Harbin crashed in north-east Yichun during foggy weather, killing 42 people.

China Eastern has set up a hotline for people seeking information about those on board. It expressed “its deep condolences for the passengers and crew members who died”. Earlier, it greyed out its logo on its Weibo account and also changed its website to black and white in an apparent sign of mourning.

The state-owned carrier is one of China’s big three airlines, along with China Southern and Air China.

China’s Civil Aviation Administration said it had also dispatched its investigators to the scene.

Flight MU5735 left Kunming at 13:11 local time (05:11 GMT) and was scheduled to arrive in Guangzhou at 15:05.

A file photo from 2015 of the China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 which crashed

Flight tracking sites report the plane was in the air for just over an hour, and was nearing its destination when it went down in Wuzhou, a verdant, hilly area prone to mixed weather at this time of year as China enters its annual flood season.

The weather was cloudy but visibility was reported to have been good at the time of the crash.

The plane dropped thousands of meters in three minutes, flight tracker data showed.

According to FlightRadar24 data, the plane was cruising at 29,100 feet but two minutes and 15 seconds later it was recorded at 9,075 feet. The last sourced information on the flight showed it ended at 14:22 local time, at an altitude of 3,225 ft.

The Boeing 737-800 plane was seven years old, according to tracker websites. It’s the predecessor model to the Boeing 737 Max line, which were the planes involved in deadly crashes in Indonesia in 2018 and Ethiopia in 2019.

China banned that model after those crashes.

Boeing issued a statement on the crash of MU5735, saying: “We are aware of the initial media reports and are working to gather more information.”

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Impunity drives sexual violence in South Sudan – UN

Widespread sexual violence against women and girls in areas of conflict has been fuelled by systemic impunity, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan has said.

A 48-page report described a hellish existence for women and girls and said widespread rape was being perpetrated by all armed groups across the country.

The report found that these attacks were not random opportunistic incidents, but usually involved armed soldiers actively hunting down women and girls.

“Rape carried out during attacks on villages were systematic and widespread,” the report said.

“Sexual violence in South Sudan has been instrumentalized as a reward and entitlement for youth and men participating in conflict. It serves as a means of building ethnic solidarity to mete out retribution against perceived enemies,” it said.

While presenting the report in Geneva on Monday, Commission chair Yasmin Sooka said:

“It is outrageous and completely unacceptable that women’s bodies are systematically used on this scale as the spoils of war. Urgent and demonstrable action by authorities is long overdue, and South Sudanese men must stop regarding the female body as ‘territory’ to be owned, controlled and exploited.”

Barney Afako, a member of the Commission, said it was scandalous that senior officials implicated in violence against women and girls, including cabinet ministers and governors, were not immediately removed from office and held accountable.

The meeting was attended by representatives from South Sudan’s Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs. The government has not officially responded to the report.

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South African court halts Amazon HQ project

There has been a mixed reaction among representatives of South Africa’s Khoi and San communities after a Cape Town court halted construction of Amazon’s new African headquarters on what some consider sacred land.

Tariq Jenkins from the group which brought the court application welcomed the order and said it would stop the project from proceeding. “Our heritage is not for sale,” he said.

However, the First Nations Collective which backs the project, said it would urgently appeal against the judgement.

Referring to the cultural facilities included in the development plans, it said it wanted the court “to return all of this province and South Africa to sanity, namely that the Khoi and San people have every right to return to the areas from which their ancestors have been dispossessed”.

In an interdict pending a final review, Western Cape deputy judge president Patricia Goliath stopped all further construction pending the “conclusion of meaningful engagement and consultation with all affected First Nations Peoples” as well as the conclusion of a full court review of the permission to build.

The 4.6bn rand (£235m; $310m) development has divided Cape Town’s first-people communities, with different groups on opposite sides of the court battle.

The application to stop the construction was brought by the Goringhaicona Khoi Khoin Indigenous Traditional Council (GKKITC) and a local civic group, while a separate Khoi and San group, the First Nations Collective (FNC), supported the development.

The 14-hectare development site is situated on an ecologically sensitive and historically significant flood plain. Tech giant Amazon is the anchor tenant in the multi-use development which will include retail, hospitality, residential and office space.

Construction started in June 2021 and has cost 500m rand so far. The disputed land is considered sacred by the Khoi and the San, who associate the site with early confrontations with Portuguese invaders and Dutch settlers in 1510 and 1659. The San lived as hunter gatherers in Southern Africa more than 2,000 years ago. They were later joined by the Khoi pastoralists who moved south to settle in the Western parts of the country.

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Dozens feared dead after Nigeria bike-gang raid

At least 16 people are feared dead after raids by gangs of armed men on motorbikes on a remote villages in the north-western state of Zamfara, police in Nigeria said.

Residents in the area say more than 20 bodies have been recovered and those killed include two local traditional leaders.

The authorities and residents say the gunmen came in large numbers on motorbikes and attacked the village on Sunday.

One man who lost seven family members in the attack told the BBC the community was in a state of distress. Hundreds of people have fled the village.

Three more people were killed in a separate attack – also in Zamfara state.

Armed gangs carrying out killings and kidnappings for ransom have continued to unleash violence in northern Nigeria despite military bombardments of their hideouts. And in the south of the country, armed separatists have been blamed for an upsurge in deadly attacks – mainly targeting security forces and their facilities.

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Zelenskyy to address Japanese parliament

 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to virtually deliver his address to the Japanese parliament on Wednesday to rally international support for his country’s fight against Russian invasion.

Japan, unlike in the past, has been acting tough against Russia, in line with other Group of Seven countries, though Tokyo’s steps have triggered Moscow’s retaliation. A compromise could set a bad precedence in East Asia, where China is increasingly making assertive military actions.

Zelenskyy’s speech, expected to be about 10 minutes, will be shown in a meeting room at the lower house — the more powerful of Japan’s two-chamber parliament which Prime Minister Fumio Kishida belongs to. Zelenskyy has made virtual addresses to the U.S. Congress, as well as parliaments in Europe, Canada, and Israel.

Foreign dignitaries, including former U.S. President George W. Bush and former Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, have delivered their addresses in person during visits to Japan as state guests, but an online speech by a foreign leader is unprecedented.

On Monday, Russia announced a decision to discontinue peace treaty talks with Japan over the disputed Kuril islands and withdraw from joint economic projects there, citing Tokyo’s sanctions against Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Japan denounced Russia on Tuesday over its decision to discontinue peace treaty talks over the disputed Kuril islands and withdraw from joint economic projects in retaliation for Tokyo’s sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The two countries never signed a peace treaty formally ending World War II hostilities because of their dispute over the Russian-held islands north of Hokkaido, which Moscow took at the end of the war.

“The latest situation has been all caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters Tuesday. He called Russia’s response “extremely unjustifiable and absolutely unacceptable.”

Japan has imposed a series of sanctions on Russia in recent weeks, including freezing some individual assets, banning exports of luxury goods and high-technology equipment to the country and revoking Russia’s most favored nation trade status.The Ukrainian army said it forced Russian troops out of Makariv, a strategically important Kyiv suburb, after a fierce battle. That prevents Russian forces from encircling the capital from the northwest, the Defense Ministry said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late Monday he was prepared to discuss a commitment from Ukraine not to seek NATO membership in exchange for a cease-fire, the withdrawal of Russian troops and a guarantee of Ukraine’s security.

“It’s a compromise for everyone: for the West, which doesn’t know what to do with us with regard to NATO, for Ukraine, which wants security guarantees, and for Russia, which doesn’t want further NATO expansion,” Zelenskyy said late Monday in an interview with Ukrainian television channels.

He also repeated his call for direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Unless he meets with Putin, it is impossible to understand whether Russia even wants to stop the war, Zelenskyy said.

Zelenskyy said that Kyiv will be ready to discuss the status of Crimea and the eastern Donbas region held by Russian-backed separatists after a cease-fire and steps toward providing security guarantees.

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