Beijing: No survivors have been found as the search continued Tuesday of the scattered debris of a China Eastern plane that crashed in a mountainous area in the country's south on Monday with 132 people on board.
"Wreckage of the plane was found at the scene, but up until now, none of those aboard the plane with whom contact was lost have been found," the country's state broadcaster said on Tuesday morning, more than 18 hours after the aircraft crashed into the mountains.
As of Tuesday morning, the search and rescue operations were still underway but all 123 passengers and nine crew members were feared dead in China's worst air disaster in a decade.
Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said, "We are making every effort to organise search and rescue and will find out the cause of the crash accident as soon as possible to ensure absolute safety of aviation operations."
On Monday afternoon, the plane crashed in the southern province of Guangxi, sparking a mountainside fire.
The China Eastern flight from Kunming to Guangzhou departed at 1.11 pm (0511 GMT), FlightRadar24 data showed. It was due to land at 3.05 pm (0705 GMT). The flight entered a steep and fast dive around 2.20 pm. The cause of the crash is yet unknown.
Following the crash, Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered the immediate launch of emergency response, all-out search and rescue efforts, Xinhua reported.