No survivors were discovered Tuesday as rescuers scoured the scattered wreckage of a China Eastern plane carrying 132 people that crashed a day earlier on a wooded mountaintop in China's most significant flying accident in almost a decade.

"While wreckage from the plane was discovered on the scene, no one aboard the plane with whom contact was lost has been located," state television CCTV reported more than 20 hours after the Monday afternoon disaster.

The Boeing 737-800 went down near Wuzhou in the Guangxi region from Kunming in the southwestern province of Yunnan to Guangzhou, China's industrial hub on the east coast. It sparked a large fire seen on NASA satellite photographs.

According to rescuers, the collision formed a deep trench in the slope. According to the article, drones and a human search would be utilized to locate the black boxes containing critical flight data and cockpit voice recorders for disaster investigations.

A base of operations was established near the crash scene, with rescue vehicles, ambulances, and an emergency power supply truck positioned in the cramped space. Soldiers dressed in camouflage joined helmeted rescue workers dressed in orange jumpsuits to comb the charred crash site and the dense forest surrounding it.

The slope's steepness made situating heavy equipment problematic, yet with only a few substantial pieces of the airplane surviving, it appeared as though their usage was unnecessary.

China Eastern Flight 5735 was flying at the height of 29,000 feet (8,840 meters) when it commenced a steep, rapid dive at approximately 2:20 p.m. local time, according to FlightRadar24.com data. The plane plummeted to 7,400 feet (2,255 meters), temporarily regaining around 1,200 feet (370 meters), and then plunged again. After 96 seconds of diving, the plane ceased transmitting data.

According to the China Civil Aviation Administration, the jet carried 123 passengers and nine crew members. It was approximately an hour into the flight and getting close to the point where it would begin its descent into Guangzhou when it pitched downward.

President Xi Jinping of China has called for an "all-out" rescue operation and an investigation into the tragedy and the establishment of perfect civil aviation safety.

At a hotel near the Kunming airport, where the plane took off, around a dozen people sat around tables and read documents, some wearing jackets identifying them as officials of China's aviation agency. Journalists were asked to leave an airline office near the airport by police and security guards.

Family members of passengers onboard began gathering at Guangzhou airport. They were brought to a reception center staffed by employees wearing full protective gear to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

According to estimates, at least five hotels totaling more than 700 rooms have been requisitioned for family members.

The accident site is in Guangxi, a semi-tropical region of mountains and rivers renowned for some of China's most magnificent landscapes.

The region is located just east of Yunnan province, the capital of Kunming, a metropolis of 8.5 million people that serves as a hub for trade with Southeast Asia and the northern terminus of a recently completed high-speed train to neighboring Laos.

Guangzhou, to the west, is China's traditional capital of foreign trade, located at the epicenter of export-driven manufacturing industries in the country's southeast that provides the world's smartphones, toys, furniture, and other commodities, and serves as a hub for the country's burgeoning auto industry.

Additionally known as Canton, the 18.5 million-strong metropolis hosts the Canton Trade Fair, the world's largest annual trade fair. On Guangzhou's northern suburbs, the Auto City district is home to one of China's largest state-owned automakers, GAC Group, and factories for joint ventures operated by Toyota and Nissan and smaller companies.

China Eastern's fleet of more than 100 737-800s has been grounded, the Chinese Transport Ministry announced. With no indication of when they would be able to fly again, the grounding could significantly impede domestic air travel, which is already being restricted as China battles its worst coronavirus outbreak since the first peak in early 2020.

Aviation experts said it is unusual for a whole fleet of planes to be grounded unless there is evidence of a design flaw. China has approximately 1,200 737-800s, more than any other country, and grounding equivalent planes at other Chinese carriers "could have a significant impact on domestic travel," according to aviation expert IBA.

Boeing 737-800s have been in service since 1998, with over 5,100 units sold. According to data provided by the Aviation Safety Network, a division of the Flight Safety Foundation, they were involved in 22 incidents that damaged the planes beyond repair and killed 612 people.

"There are tens of thousands of them worldwide. "It has an unmatched safety record," Hassan Shahidi, president of the charity, said of the 737-800.

The aircraft was not a Boeing 737 Max, grounded globally for nearly two years following tragic incidents in 2018 and 2019.

China's record on aviation safety has improved significantly since the 1990s, as air travel has increased rapidly with the emergence of a rising middle class. Before Monday, the latest fatal airplane crash in China happened in August 2010, when an Embraer ERJ 190-100 operated by Henan Airlines collided with the ground short of the runway in Yichun, northeast China. It carried 96 passengers, 44 of whom perished. Investigators placed the cause on the pilot's mistake.

China Eastern's most recent tragic crash occurred in November 2004, when a Bombardier CRJ-200 plummeted into a frozen lake shortly after takeoff from the Inner Mongolian city of Baotou, killing all 53 aboard and two on the ground. Regulators blamed the incident on ice that had accumulated on the wings.

Both the CAAC and China Eastern dispatched representatives to the crash site. The US National Transportation Safety Board stated that a senior investigator had been selected to assist. The US Federal Aviation Administration, which certified the 737-800 in the 1990s, indicated that it is prepared to assist if requested.

Boeing Co. of Chicago stated that its experts would assist investigators. In contrast, the NTSB indicated that engine producer CFM International, a joint venture between General Electric and France's Safran, would provide technical assistance on engine difficulties.

Although officials traditionally undertake investigations into plane crashes in the country where the crash happened, they frequently include the manufacturer and an investigator or regulator from the manufacturer's home country.

China Eastern Airlines, headquartered in Shanghai, is one of the country's top three airlines, serving 248 domestic and international destinations.

Boeing delivered the aircraft to the airliner in June 2015 after more than six years of service. China Eastern Airlines relies on the Boeing 737-800 as its workhorse aircraft – the airline operates around 600 aircraft, of which 109 are Boeing 737-800s.

The twin-engine, single-aisle Boeing 737 has been flying in various configurations for more than 50 years and is one of the most popular short- and medium-haul aircraft globally.

The 737 Max, a later version, was grounded for almost 20 months following the deaths of 346 people in two incidents in Indonesia and Ethiopia. In December, China became the final primary market to clear the Max for reintroduction, although Chinese carriers have not yet begun flights.

The most deadly Boeing 737-800 crash occurred in January 2020, when Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard shot down a Ukraine International Airlines flight, killing 176 people.