On Monday, a Chinese passenger plane carrying 132 people crashed in the southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, according to the regional emergency management department. 

The state-run Xinhua news agency reported the Boeing 737 aircraft of China Eastern Airlines, which was flying from Kunming to Guangzhou, crashed in Tengxian County in the city of Wuzhou, causing a mountain fire.

The 132 people on board including 123 passengers and nine crew members, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China. The number of casualties is unknown.

According to data from flight-tracking website FlightRadar24.com,  China Eastern Flight  5735 was flying at around 30,000 feet when, just after 0620 GMT, the plane entered a deep dive at its cruising altitude speed of 455 knots (523 mph, 842 kph). The plane crashed within a minute and a half of whatever happened.

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What happens when a plane nosedives?

When the plane dives, your body and the plane will eventually fall at the same rate, giving the impression that you are weightless. 

Huge gravitational forces are exerted on the body when a plane enters a sharp bank, a spiral turn, or a very deep dive. The body can no longer compensate for the sheer force inflicted on it as the plane reaches terminal velocity.

Passengers may lose vision, then lose awareness of where they are and what is going on before falling to unconsciousness.

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Can a plane recover from a stall?

The pilot must lower the nose to recover from a stall. The pilot should then use the throttle to increase engine power. When airspeed returns to normal, the pilot can level the wings and pull up to resume normal flight.