Flight carrying 132 crashes in Guangxi

Over 80 rescuers have been put into the rescue operation. [Video by Guangxi Armed Police]

All-out search and rescue efforts were underway on Monday after a China Eastern Airlines aircraft carrying 132 people crashed in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region in the afternoon-ending China's 12-year air safety record.

Flight MU5735 left Kunming, capital of Yunnan province, at 1:11 pm and was scheduled to arrive in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, at 3:05 pm. Air traffic controllers lost track of the plane over Wuzhou, Guangxi. The flight was carrying 123 passengers and nine crew members.

No report on casualties was available as of press time.

In an instruction issued shortly after the crash, President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, said he was shocked to learn about the accident and asked for the immediate launch of an emergency response.