Passenger plane crashes in southern China

{"text":[[{"start":14.54,"text":"A passenger flight with 132 people on board has crashed in southern China, in what threatens to be the country’s worst air disasters in recent years. "}],[{"start":25.47,"text":"China Eastern Airlines’ flight MU5735 crashed in a mountain range in Guangxi an hour after take-off, according to multiple state media reports. "},{"start":36.949,"text":"The flight was travelling from Kunming to Guangzhou. "}],[{"start":40.48,"text":"No information on casualties or the cause of the crash was immediately available. "}],[{"start":46.39,"text":"Data from Flightradar24 showed the six-year-old plane travelling at 29,100 feet before it began to rapidly lose speed and altitude. "}],[{"start":57.49,"text":"The flight was carrying 123 passengers and nine crew members, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China. "},{"start":66.107,"text":"The aviation regulator said it had activated its emergency response measures and was sending a team to the crash site. "}],[{"start":74.11,"text":"The fire department in Wuzhou, where the plane went down, said the plane crashed in a remote mountainous area and 450 firefighters were heading to the scene of the accident, according to state media. "}],[{"start":87.7,"text":"Videos on social media showed smoke billowing from a mountain in the area. "},{"start":92.679,"text":"The images could not be verified by the Financial Times. "}],[{"start":97.33,"text":"Flight tracking websites show the route was being flown by a Boeing 737-800. "}],[{"start":104.25,"text":"Boeing and China Eastern did not immediately respond to questions. "}],[{"start":109.44,"text":"The crash could be one of China’s worst aviation disasters in two decades after a succession of accidents in the 1990s, which officials blamed on the rapid growth of the aviation industry without strict regulatory oversight. "}],[{"start":124.53999999999999,"text":"Over the past two decades, China has suffered fewer accidents after the country upgraded its fleet and introduced tighter government controls and regulatory scrutiny. "}],[{"start":135.95,"text":"The Boeing 737-800 plane that crashed in China differs from the larger Max series which crashed in Indonesia and Ethiopia within six months, killing a combined 346 people. "}],[{"start":150.26,"text":"The global fleet of 737 Max aircraft was grounded for two years following the incidents involving an Indonesian carrier in October 2018 and an Ethiopian airline in March 2019. "},{"start":163.852,"text":"Boeing last year reached a $2.5bn settlement to compensate the families of those killed in the accidents. "}],[{"start":171.89,"text":"Shares in China Eastern were 6.5 per cent lower on the day in late trading in Hong Kong. "},{"start":178.494,"text":"Boeing shares were down 6.6 per cent in pre-market trading in New York. "}],[{"start":184.08999999999997,"text":"Additional reporting by Maiqi Ding and Oliver Ralph "}],[{"start":187.7,"text":""}]],"url":"https://creatives.ftacademy.cn/album/65621-1647859540.mp3"}