(CNN)A China Eastern Airlines jetliner carrying 132 people crashed in the mountains in southern China’s Guangxi region on Monday afternoon, according to the country’sCivil Aviation Administration (CAAC).
The Boeing 737 was en route from the southwestern city of Kunming to Guangzhou when it lost contact over the city of Wuzhou. On board were 123 passengers and nine crewmembers, CAAC said in a statement posted online.
The plane’s altitude dropped from 8,869 meters (29,098 feet) to 1,333.5 meters (4,375 feet) in the span of three minutes, state news agency China News Service reported, citing VariFlight, a Chinese technology company that provides civil aviation data services.
The plane was a Boeing 737-800. It was not a 737-Max which was grounded after crashing a couple times in 2018-2019.