The Boeing 737 that crashed in China started a rapid descent from 29,000 feet and hit the ground minutes later, flight data says

• A China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 plane crashed on Monday afternoon with 132 people on board.
• The plane started to descend rapidly from 29,000 feet and crashed minutes later, data showed.

China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735 crashed on Monday afternoon with 132 people on board, including nine crew members.

Data from flight-tracking website FlightRadar24.com gives a sense of what may have happened.

It showed that the Boeing 737 started to descend rapidly from just over 29,000 feet, and that the plane's last recorded altitude was 3,225 ft.

The plane was travelling at around 523 miles per hour (842 kilometers per hour) when it started to descend, the data showed.

The plane was travelling at 29,000 feet at 2.19 p.m. local time. Its last recorded data point was at 2.22 p.m., when it had shed almost its entire cruising height and was at 3,225 ft. Its speed had also slowed to 432 miles per hour.

It is not clear how much time elapsed between the 2.22 p.m. data point and the moment of impact.

The data does not give any indication of why the plane started descending, its angle of descent, or any action that may have been taken to avert the crash.

The plane took off from Kunming Changshui International Airport at 1:11 p.m. and was due to land at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport at 3:10 p.m.

But the plane crashed around halfway through its journey. FlightRadar24 data showed officials lost contact with the plane at around 2:22 p.m. local time.

No information about causalities had been released as of Monday afternoon.

Read Insider's full coverage of the crash here.