53 passengers and crew die as plane plunges after take-off

A PASSENGER plane crashed into a lake in northern China immediately after take-off yesterday, killing all 53 people aboard and two others on the ground.

The China Eastern Airlines plane went down in Baotou, a city in the Inner Mongolia region, after taking off at about 8.20am local time, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

The plane, a Bombardier CRJ-200, was headed for Shanghai with 47 passengers and six crew members when it crashed into a frozen lake in Nanhai Park "only about a dozen seconds" after it took off, Xinhua reported. All aboard were confirmed dead by government officials in Baotou.

Two workers in Nanhai Park were also killed. The workers were near the park's ticket office.

Police and firefighters were breaking the ice on the lake to search for victims, and divers had been called in to help.

"Witnesses said that the plane broke into flaming fragments," the agency said, adding a house next to the park was damaged and several yachts were scorched.

There was no immediate word on the cause of the crash.

The remains of 46 victims were later recovered, Xinhua said.