. On Mar 22nd 2022 the CAAC held a press conference stating that the search for the black boxes is still underway. No survivors have been found at the crash site, which has two parts, part of the aircraft fell onto one side of a hill and the other part onto the other side. A safety inspection of all Boeing 737s operating in China will be conducted in the next weeks. In detail the CAAC stated: China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735 took off from Kunming at 13:16 on March 21, and entered the Guangzhou control area at a cruising altitude of 8900 meters at 14:17. At 14:20, the controller noticed that the aircraft's was sharply descending and called the crew several times but without reply. At 14:23 the radar signal of the aircraft disappeared. The aircraft was found crashed in Teng County, Wuzhou City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. There were 123 passengers (all Chinese, no foreigner) on board, 3 pilots, 5 flight attendants and 1 safety officer. The aircraft had first flown on Jun 22nd 2015 and had since accumulated 18,239 flight hours in 8,986 flight cycles.
Mode-S data transmitted by the aircraft suggest the aircraft was enroute at 8900 meters/FL291 about 130nm west of Guangzhou at 14:20L (06:20Z) when the aircraft began a rapid descent, the last position from the transponder was received from position N23.34 E111.15 at 3200 feet MSL at 14:23L (06:23Z).