AT LEAST 35 people died on Thursday evening in China's first air crash in three years. It occurred in the southern city of Shenzhen during a fierce rain-and-thunder storm, described as the worst in years.
A three-year-old Boeing 737-300 carrying 65 passengers and nine crew from the south-western city of Chongquing crashed into the runway during torrential rain and lightning, broke into three pieces and burst into flames.
The dead include more than 16 Thai tourists, according to local officials who said 17 other passengers and two crew members were among the fatalities. China had been steadily building a reputation as a safe place to fly, and recently celebrated three years without a serious accident. The country's old fleet of Russian-built planes has largely been replaced by modern aircraft including Boeing 7375 and French Airbuses.
In 1994 a Russian-made Tupolev-154 exploded after take-off, causing China's worst-ever air disaster, with 160 people killed. That year the International Airline Passengers Association named China as one of the most dangerous places in the world to fly, after five crashes in 1993.
The break weather was almost certainly the immediate cause of Thursday's catastrophe. The rainstorm that battered southern China killed at least 40 other people and caused floods that one local official described as occurring only once in five centuries.
The rain shut schools in neighbouring Hong Kong and caused rivers to burst their banks in the province of Guangdong. The deaths mostly occurred when houses collapsed in outlying areas of the provincial capital, Guangzhou.
The storm was at its height when China Southern Airlines flight CZ3456 hit the runway at Shenzben and burst into flames. Rescue workers rushed muddied passengers to nearby hospitals. Nine people were critically hurt, although they were all in a stable condition.
An airport official said: "The plane went around twice after unsuccessful attempts to land, On its third landing attempt the pilot could not pull up and the plane crashed."
The airliner's co-pilot was among those killed in the crash. Rescue workers have found the "black box" flight recorder, but the cause of the crash was not yet clear, an official said. Boeing Co said a US inspection team was being sent to investigate.
The last China Southern crash occurred when another of its 35 Boeing 7375 flew into a hill near the resort city of Guilin in 1992, killing 141 people.