Photos: Chinese plane with 132 people onboard crashes in Guangxi

A China Eastern passenger jet carrying 132 people has crashed in southwest China and caused a mountain fire with casualties unknown, state broadcaster CCTV reported Monday. The Boeing 737 plane crashed in the rural countryside near Wuzhou city.

Rescue operation underway for crashed plane

The Boeing 737 plane crashed in the rural countryside near Wuzhou city, Guangxi region and "caused a mountain fire", CCTV said, citing the provincial emergency management bureau. Above, people are pictured by the check-in counters of China Eastern Airlines in Hongqiao International Airport in Shanghai.

The report added that rescue teams were dispatched to the scene. The plane was carrying 123 passengers and nine crew members, the CAAC said.

A flight information board shows cancelled China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735 (top) at the Kunming Changshui International Airport in China's southwestern Yunnan province, after the China Eastern aircraft flying from Kunming to the southern hub of Guangzhou crashed in southwestern China.

In this image taken from video footage run by China's CCTV, emergency personnel prepare to travel to the site of a plane crash near Wuzhou in southwestern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

People sit in a temporarily cordoned off area for the relatives of the victims aboard China Eastern's flight MU5735, in Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province.

Fears for the fate of the jet spread on Monday afternoon as local media reported that China Eastern flight MU5735 had not arrived as planned in Guangzhou after taking off from Kunming shortly after 1pm (0500 GMT). Flight tracking website FlightRadar24 showed no data for the flight after 2:22 pm.

The tracker showed the plane had sharply dropped from an altitude of 29,100 feet to 3,225 feet in the span of three minutes, before flight information stopped. State broadcaster CCTV said the crash "caused a mountain fire" which was later extinguished, as rescuers poured to the scene in Teng county near Wuzhou. Above, a worker from the China Eastern holds a signboard waiting to lead relatives of the victims aboard China Eastern's flight MU5735 to a cordoned off area, in Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province.

Rescue operation underway for crashed plane.

Security and airline staff stand outside the local offices of China Eastern in Kunming in China's southwestern Yunnan province. China Eastern said it will ground all of its Boeing 737-800 jets starting Tuesday. An emergency telephone assistance line for family was set up and the carrier expressed deep condolences to passengers and crew members onboard.