Chinese authorities stepped up search and rescue efforts on Tuesday after a China Eastern Airlines Boeing jet with 132 people aboard crashed in the southern part of the nation the previous day, but the number of casualties remains unknown.

The B737-800, bound for the southeastern city of Guangzhou from Kunming in Yunnan Province, lost radar contact two minutes after it suddenly descended from cruising altitude of around 8,900 meters, a tabloid of the ruling Communist Party reported.

Flight MU5735 crashed shortly after 2:30 p.m. on Monday in Wuzhou, a city in the Guangxi region, the Global Times said, with a Japanese government official telling Kyodo News that China has unofficially said there were no foreign nationals on board.

Photo taken on March 21, 2022 shows the area where a China Eastern Airlines Boeing jet with 132 people aboard crashed in the Guangxi region of the country the same day. (CNS/Kyodo) 

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China Eastern plane with 132 people aboard crashes in southern China


No casualties have been reported yet, but it is believed there is little chance of survival for those aboard, according to the newspaper.

Later Tuesday, Chinese rescue authorities were quoted by the state-run Xinhua News Agency as saying at a press conference that no survivors have been found after the crash.

China Eastern Airlines Co., one of China's three major air carriers and headquartered in Shanghai, operates about 750 jetliners from both Boeing Co. and Airbus SE under the SkyTeam alliance. It has suspended all fights of its B737-800s following the crash.

Boeing said in a statement released Monday that it is "in contact with the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and our technical experts are prepared to assist with the investigation led by the Civil Aviation Administration of China."

The crash came after Chinese authorities said late last month that the country's airlines had recorded more than 100 million continuous hours of safe flight as of Feb. 19.

In China, a passenger plane with 96 people aboard failed a landing and burst into flames in the northeastern city of Yichun in August 2010, killing 44 people.