Wuzhou, China - No survivors have been found from the China Eastern Airlines plane that crashed with 132 people on board in southern China, state media reported Tuesday.

The plane's wreckage was found, but no one has been found alive, broadcaster CCTV reported some 18 hours after the crash.

Several hundred fire and rescue workers were involved in the search efforts.

The seven-year-old Boeing 737 suddenly plummeted from a height of more than 26,000 feet on Monday, air traffic control reported.

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On board were 123 passengers and nine crew members, all Chinese nationals, which could make this the worst aviation disaster in China since 1994, when all 160 people on aboard a China Northwest Airlines flight died after the plane broke up mid-flight due to an autopilot malfunction.

Flight number MU5735 crashed near Wuzhou in the southern Chinese province of Guangxi. It was on the way from Kunming, in Yunnan province, to Guangzhou in Guangdong province.

US aircraft manufacturer Boeing said technical experts were ready to assist with investigations led by Chinese civil aviation authorities into the cause of the accident.