BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered an investigation into the passenger plane crash. China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 with 123 people and nine crew members on board crashed in mountains in southern China on Monday following a sudden descent from cruising altitude. It is said that all who were on board are feared to be dead. The reason for the crash has not yet been revealed.

Meanwhile, video footage of the plane crashing into the mountains has been circulating on social media. The media reported that the footage was captured on a security camera by a local mining company. A villager in the area told the news agency that he saw the plane nosediving into a forest area and then burnt. News agencies reported that the chances of having survivors are very less.

The Chinese Civil Aviation Administration sent rescue workers to the location immediately after the crash. Following the accident, the website of Eastern Airlines in China was changed to black and white as a tribute to the dead.

China Eastern Airlines 737 carrying 133 people crashes in southern China - CCTV. More to follow. pic.twitter.com/cga0VJPFNA

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Meanwhile, the news agencies reported that the plane that crashed was delivered to China Eastern by Boeing in 2015. The aircraft is six years old. The flight left for Kunming from Guangzhou at 1.11pm local time. At 2.22 pm the connection with the aircraft was lost. Later, news came out that the air craft had collapsed in the mountains.