China: Plane crashes into residential area, pilot ejected as several houses catch fire

A plane crashed near the airport in China’s Hubei province in Laohekou on Wednesday morning (local time), according to the Chinese state media Global Times. The pilot was ejected and suffered minor injuries. However, casualties are presently unknown. An explosion was reported in Laohekou, Xiangyang City. Xiangyang Emergency Management Bureau confirmed that an incident occurred in the area. Videos and photos that emerged on social media showed some houses on fire as the plane crashed into the residential area.

Chinese plane crash that killed 132 in March was intentional: Report

The crash on Wednesday in Hubei province comes at a time when US officials' preliminary assessment of another crash, which took place in the Asian country in March and killed all 132 passengers, suggested that the China Eastern Airlines plane was intentionally put into a nose-dive. Investigators had not found any mechanical or technical faults with the jet. The crash which took place earlier this year involved a Boeing 737-800 which was flying between the southern cities of Kunming and Guangzhou when it crashed killing all the passengers. 

"The plane did what it was told to do by someone in the cockpit," according to the Wall Street Journal, which reported the story, citing a person familiar with US officials' preliminary assessment of the cause of the crash. The data from one of the plane’s “black box” flight recorders had indicated that inputs to the controls pushed the plane into a near-vertical dive, the report added. It is to note that apart from the March crash, Chinese airlines are considered to have a good safety record as the last major accident took place more than a decade ago. 

Image: Shutterstock/Representative