At 14:23 CST (06:23 UTC) on 21 March 2022,[2] the Boeing 737-89P aircraft descended steeply mid-flight and struck the ground at high speed in Teng County, Wuzhou, Guangxi, killing all 132 passengers and crew on board.

Multiple reports say that the airplane was deliberately crashed, but the official investigation by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) is ongoing.

[8] The aircraft was scheduled to travel earlier from Baoshan to Kunming, but this segment of the journey was temporarily suspended due to low passenger numbers as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China.

[7][13][14] According to an astronautics and aeronautics professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, preliminary data indicated the aircraft traveled close to the speed of sound when it crashed.

[26] The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) and the airline reported 123 passengers and 9 crew members to be on the flight, for a total of 132 people.

[27] Liu Ning, secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in Guangxi, visited the crash site and ordered an "all-out" search and rescue operation.

[49] United States Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg said on 23 March 2022 that Chinese authorities had invited the NTSB to take part in the investigation.

[50][31] On 29 March 2022, the NTSB announced that China had granted visas to the agency and the technical advisors from Boeing, engine manufacturer CFM and the FAA.

[51] The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) was found on 23 March 2022, severely damaged externally, but the internal storage unit appeared to be relatively intact.

[58] On 24 March 2022, a piece of the jet was discovered about 10 km (6 mi) from the crash site, initially giving weight to the theory of a mid-air breakup.

[61] However, Chinese authorities later confirmed that it was a winglet, whose loss should not severely impair airworthiness, and which is lightweight enough to either have flown to the ground in the wind or broke-up during the descent.

It was reported that the plane was airworthy, up to date on inspections, that all personnel met requirements, that weather was fine, and that no dangerous goods were found.

[60] On the eve of the first anniversary in March 2023, the CAAC released an unusually short[63] interim statement that the investigation is ongoing due to the "very complicated and very rare" nature of the accident.

[4][5][6] On 17 May 2022, The Wall Street Journal reported a source from the US government, from officials involved in the investigation, as saying that the plane had been intentionally crashed, based on an analysis of data from the aircraft recorders.

[66][6] News reports published by ABC News on the same day concurred with the Wall Street Journal's report of the investigating officials in the US government declaring that the aircraft had been deliberately put into a vertical dive by a person on the flight deck, also citing flight recorder data showing that the landing gear and flaps had evidently not been engaged or deployed during the aircraft's descent which would indicate the pilots attempting an emergency descent or landing.

[71] Chinese premier Li Keqiang called for comprehensive efforts to search for survivors and treat the injured, emphasizing the need to reassure and serve the families of the victims.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping called for investigators to determine the cause as soon as possible and to ensure "absolute" aviation safety.

[45] China Eastern established a hotline for family members[73] and announced that its Boeing 737-800 fleet would be grounded for inspection until the investigation was completed.

State-run media focused on the emergency crews' response, including detailed lists of their equipment and provisions, and orders from Xi Jinping that officials do everything possible to find survivors.

After officials initially failed to answer basic questions about the plane and its pilots, they were accused by online commentators of "rainbow farts," an idiom for excessive praise.

Faced with mounting pressure, officials eventually provided information on the maintenance history of the plane, the pilots' flight experience, and weather conditions at the time of the crash.

[79] In India, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) placed all Boeing 737 aircraft flown by Indian carriers under "enhanced surveillance."