Boeing shares tank 5.8% in premarket trading after 737 passenger jet crashes in remote Chinese mountains with 132 on board: Fiery wreckage ‘shows no sign of survivors’
- Shares of the Chicago-based company are down to $180.89 each from $192.83 at closing on Friday afternoon
- US-listed shares of the Hong Kong-based China Eastern Airlines slumped 17 percent in premarket trading
- A China Eastern plane smashed into countryside near Wuzhou city and ’caused a mountain fire’
- Rescuers were reportedly dispatched but there was no immediate confirmation of numbers dead and injured
- Shocking CCTV footage emerged on social media showing the jet racing vertically towards the ground today
- President Xi Jinping said he was ‘shocked’ over the incident and immediately ordered a probe into the cause
- The plane, flight number MU5735 from Kunming to Guangzhou, is believed to be a Boeing 737-89P, not a MAX
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Boeing shares sank by nearly 6 percent in premarket trading after a 737 jet carrying 132 people plummeted 30,000ft to the ground Monday before bursting into flames in a remote Chinese mountain range – with no sign of survivors.
Shares of the Chicago-based company were down to $180.89 each on Monday morning from $192.83 at closing on Friday afternoon, according to Yahoo Finance.
Shares in China Eastern Airlines in Hong Kong closed down 6.5 percent after news of the crash broke, while its US-listed shares slumped 17 percent in premarket trading, Reuters reports.
Chinese state media reports that China Eastern grounded its fleet of 737-800 planes after the crash. China Eastern has 109 of the aircraft in its fleet, according to FlightRadar24.
The domestic 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.
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.
Boeing shares were down six percent in pre-market trading to $180.89 each at one point. Shares closed on Friday at $192.83
Shocking CCTV footage emerged on social media supposedly showing the jet racing vertically towards the ground in the moments before the smash
A wildfire caused by the high-impact smash into the mountainside is pictured after the plane crash landed earlier on Monday
Horrifying CCTV footage emerged on social media supposedly showing the jet, nearly seven years old, 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. The airline said it had provided a hotline for relatives of those on board and sent a working group to the site.
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.’
Flight Radar shows the plane taking off but not reaching its destination in the early hours
The China Eastern plane smashed into countryside near Wuzhou city, Guangxi region, and ’caused a mountain fire’, state broadcaster CCTV said. Pictured: Footage of the crash posted on social media
Rescuers set out to the plane crash site of Tengxian County, south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, earlier today
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.
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