BEIJING: A businessman escaped the China Eastern Airlines MU5735 crash after rescheduling his plans and taking an earlier flight.

       However, his younger sister as well as five other relatives and friends were on board the aircraft.

       The man, whose identity was not revealed, said the group had planned to attend the memorial service of a friend in Guangzhou city on Wednesday (March 23).

       “I was supposed to be on the same plane but I changed to an earlier flight,” he told local media, but did not say what caused the change of plan.

       The ill-fated plane, carrying 123 passengers and nine crew members, was flying from Kunming city in Yunnan province to Guangzhou city in Guangdong province on Monday (March 21).

       It suddenly lost altitude at 8,800m and crashed into a forest in Wuzhou city in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and caused a forest fire.

       A video being circulated online shows a plane, supposedly MU5735, falling to the ground. However, its authenticity has not been verified.

       Rescuers and investigators have since found plane fragments and some items believed to belong to the passengers.

       There are no signs of any survivors as of 3pm on Tuesday (March 22).

       Based on the damage the aircraft sustained, it is believed there is little chance of surviving the crash.

       Family members of passengers remain hopeful for the best as they gathered at the airport and the airline’s offices in Wuzhou to follow the development of the search and rescue operation.

       “I am flying soon,” was the last words a man, identified as Rong, heard from his air stewardess wife on duty onboard the aircraft.

       The next news Rong received was that the plane had crashed.

       The last air crash in China occurred in 2010, killing 44 people in Yichun in the northeastern Heilongjiang province.

       In the incident, the Henan Airlines flight with 91 passengers and five crew members crashed and burst into flames upon approach of the Lindu airport runway.