Beijing, March 21 (TIWN) A China Eastern flight, carrying 132 or 133 (doubt prevails over the exact number) people on board, crashed on Monday in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, according to emergency officials.

A China Eastern Airlines plane with 133 people on board crashed in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Monday.  The plane crashed in the city of Wuzhou, the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region of China, causing a forest fire, Sputnik reported citing China Central Television (CCTV).  According to CCTV, the search and rescue operations are underway, the Russian News Agency reported.

The jet involved in the accident was a Boeing 737 aircraft and the number of casualties was not immediately known, state broadcaster CCTV said. Rescue services were on their way to the scene, it said. There was no word on the cause of the crash.  The plane was a 6-year-old 737-800 aircraft, according to Flightradar24.  The 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 has activated the emergency mechanism and sent a working group to the scene," it said in a statement. 

Media cited a rescue official as saying the plane had completely disintegrated. A fire sparked by the crash burned down bamboo and trees before being put out.  The flight departed the southwestern city of Kunming at 1:11 p.m. (0511 GMT), FlightRadar24 data showed. The flight tracking ended at 2:22 p.m. (0622 GMT) an altitude of 3225 feet (983 metres) with a speed of 376 knots.  It had been due to land in Guangzhou, on the south coast, at 3:05 p.m. (0705 GMT).