53 Killed as Plane Crashes into Park Lake in North China

21/11/2004| IslamWeb

Fifty-three people were confirmed dead after a passenger plane crashed shortly after take-off in northern China, officials and state media said. China Eastern's flight MU-5210 bound for Shanghai plunged into a lake in Nanhai Park just minutes after leaving from Baotou city in Inner Mongolia region at 8:20 am (0020 GMT), the Xinhua news agency reported. "There were 47 passengers on board and six crew members, and all died," the civil aviation authority said in a statement posted on its website. Xinhua news agency quoted Baotou government officials as confirming the death toll of 53. A Xinhua reporter said that when he arrived at the scene 30 minutes after the crash, a huge fire was visible on the surface of the lake. Firefighters were engaged in putting out the blaze, while others tried to salvage bodies from the wreckage. "The cause of the crash is still under investigation," an official with China Eastern's office in Baotou told AFP by telephone. "We're gathering passenger information at the moment." The civil aviation authority identified the plane as a CRJ-200, a regional jet which normally has capacity to carry 50 passengers. **PHOTO CAPTION*** File photo shows passengers boarding a China Eastern airlines plane in Jinan, the capital city of China's northern Shandong province. (AFP)