TRAGEDY IN THE SKIES
HARROWING footage has shown a Boeing 737 nosedive nearly 30,000ft into a mountainside at 350mph before bursting into flames.
All 123 passengers and seven crew members onboard the China Eastern Airlines flight are believed to have died when it came down in Guangxi, China on Monday.
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President Xi Jinping called for “all efforts” to be put into the rescue after the "shocking" crash, while experts are scrambling to discover the cause.
The plane was reportedly a Boeing 737-89P - a predecessor to the infamously troubled Boeing 737 Max jets, which were grounded in 2019 after two horrific crashes but have since been cleared to fly.
It’s been theorised anything from “a loss of control event” to jammed or unresponsive control surfaces or sabotage could be behind this latest incident, reports MailOnline.
Speaking to The Sun, aviation expert Sally Gethin said: "The 737-800 has a particularly good safety record. There are thousands of them operating around the world, about 1,000 in China alone.
"But the fact that China Eastern Airlines is grounding all of those planes from the fleet as a precaution suggests they're concerned about the safety of that aircraft."
Here we look back at the rare but tragic disasters that have struck Boeing 737-800s over the years.
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'Shredded' in the sky
Deaths: 154
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On September 29, 2006, a doomed flight from Manus, Brazil to Rio de Janeiro claimed the lives of all 154 passengers and crew on board after a mid-air collision.
An Embraer Legacy 600 business jet sliced half of the Boeing's left wing with its wingtip, and the stricken GOL Transportes Aereos plane was ripped in two.
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It crashed into a dense jungle, while the other jet managed to land with all seven passengers and crew uninjured.
In 2008, Brazilian authorities ruled the accident was caused by air traffic control errors and mistakes by the Legacy pilot, who had not realised the traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS) was disabled.
American authorities found both of the US pilots were not at fault because they felt the TCAS was only a contributing factor to the crash, not the cause.
The accident remains Brazil’s second-worst plane crash in history and was the third-deadliest involving a 737 Next Generation series - 737s covering 737-600s to 900s.
The country's worst disaster came in 2007, when TAM Airlines Flight 3054 crashed into a Shell filling station while trying to take off in wet conditions in Sao Paulo.
All 187 passengers and crew, as well as 12 staff on the ground, died.
Skidded off runway
Deaths: 21; Injured: 2
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Air India Express Flight 1344 in August 2020 was travelling to Calicut International Airport when it skidded off the runway in difficult conditions and killed 21 people, including both pilots.
It was mainly full of Indian nationals returning home during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The plane had tried to land twice before but failed due to heavy rain and tailwind.
On the third attempt, it slid off the runway and down a 10.5m slope. There were 169 survivors, two of which were injured.
In 2021, authorities ruled that the pilots' failure to follow standard procedures were to blame, as one refused to take off again when instructed.
Shot down mid-flight
Deaths: 176
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The Iranian government initially denied responsibility for shooting down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 in January 2020 – but was later found to be behind the carnage.
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, part of the nation’s military, admitted to confusing the Boeing 737, which was en route to Kyiv, with a cruise missile.
They fired two surface-to-air missiles at the craft, which killed all 176 people onboard.
It sparked demands for justice, led by Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and the prime minister of Canada, which lost 57 nationals.
After speaking with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Zelensky said he'd been assured "all persons involved in this air disaster will be brought to justice".
Rapid crash after landing issues
Deaths: 62
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Flydubai Flight 981 lost all 62 passengers and crew on board after two failed attempts to land at night in poor conditions at Rostov-on-Don Airport, Russia in March 2016.
Having flown in from the UAE, the pilots spent two hours circling the airport before making their doomed second approach to land against a strong headwind.
Unable to keep the aircraft stable, they abandoned the landing - but seconds into the rapid climb, the plane pitched downwards and ploughed nose-first into the runway.
A long investigation found pilot error was to blame for the catastrophe.
Two deadly Boeing 737 Max crashes within six months
AFTER two crashes in less than six months, Boeing was forced to ground its 737 Max aircrafts.
In October 2018, a 737 Max crashed into the Java Sea in Indonesia 15 minutes after taking off from Jakarta, killing 189 passengers.
On March 10, 2019, a doomed Ethiopian Airlines flight plunged into the ground at 700mph, leaving 157 families bereaved.
After the Indonesian crash, Boeing bosses insisted that the Max was totally safe and hinted that pilot error was to blame.
But Netflix documentary Downfall: The Case Against Boeing, suggests that privately, the authorities feared the jets were so unsafe that one might crash every TWO years.
In November the manufacturer admitted full responsibility for the crash in Ethiopia.
Even though the authorities fined Boeing £1.85billion for the cover up, their top boss received a huge pay off rather than facing criminal charges. In the documentary, executives are accused of putting profit ahead of safety.
An internal report revealed that if a pilot reacted in less than 10 seconds to the activation of an automatic system known as MCAS, the “failure” would be “catastrophic".
But Boeing allegedly didn’t tell pilots about MCAS, let alone train them in how to deal with such an emergency.
The disasters led major flight carriers to drop the air craft including American, United and Southwest in the US.
Boeing reported that there had been 60 cancelled orders for the type of jet and a further 123 removed over concerns about the plane.
Fireball after hill slip
Deaths: 158
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Pilot error was believed to be behind an Air India Express Flight 812 crash in May 2010 at an airport in Mangalore.
Captain Zlatko Glušica, who had more than 10,000 hours of flying experience, was advised to abort a take-off three times by his co-pilot but ignored the warnings.
Instead, the plane hurtled off the landing strip, down a ravine and burst into flames – killing all six crew and 152 passengers, with only eight survivors.
A report found the pilot was 5,200ft beyond the usual touchdown point for the runway and appeared to have tried to take off moments before impact.
Plunged into sea
Deaths: 90
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It’s widely debated what caused Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 to crash into the Mediterranean sea shortly after take off from Beirut in January 2010 - but a number of theories have been posed.
Some, including an air traffic controller, claimed to have seen “an orange explosion” - typically suggesting a shoot-down, sabotage or lightning strike.
This was dismissed in an official report that claimed autopsies of the rescued aircraft showed “no sign of any explosion or fire", implying it was down to pilot error.
Authorities blamed the crash on “mismanagement” of speed, altitude and “failing to abide by Crew Resource Management (CRM)” - training to help avoid human error.
Ethiopian Airlines refuted the allegations, claiming the pilot was one of their most experienced with 10,233 flying hours.
Perished in Mangrove
Deaths: 114
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Kenya Airways Flight 507 crashed two minutes after taking off from Douala International Airport in Cameroon on the second part of its trip to Nairobi in May 2007.
Other pilots refused to fly that day due to poor conditions, but after realising his team were 1.5 hours behind schedule and that the weather appeared to be better, the captain took to the skies.
However, he ran into trouble moments after take-off and the plane plunged into a mangrove swamp - killing all 108 passengers and six crew members.
An inquiry cited "loss of control of the aircraft", poor conditions and a failure to recognise autopilot contributed to the crash.
Miracle escape from flames
Deaths: 0
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China Airlines Flight 120 caught fire after landing at Naha Airport, on the Japanese Island of Okinawa, in August 2007.
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Miraculously no one died, but it led to the Federal Aviation Administration - a body in the US - demanding multiple stricter checks, including tightening the nut and bolt assembly and scanning all Boeing 737NG aircrafts for loose parts.
The Sun contacted Boeing for comment on yesterday's 737 accident in China and a spokesperson said: "Our thoughts are with the passengers and crew of China Eastern Airlines Flight MU 5735.
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"We are working with our airline customer and are ready to support them.
"Boeing is in contact with the US National Transportation Safety Board and our technical experts are prepared to assist with the investigation led by the Civil Aviation Administration of China.”
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