Chinese state TV says 48 people rescued after plane carrying 91 crashes in northeastern China

Chinese state TV says 48 rescued after plane crash

BEIJING — Chinese state television said 48 people were rescued Tuesday after a plane with 91 people crashed while landing at an airport in the country’s northeast. The fate of the remaining passengers was unclear.

The official Xinhua News Agency said the Henan Airlines plane overshot the runway in Heilongjiang province’s Yichun city and burst into flames. Xinhua said more than 20 people had been hospitalized.

A China Central Television reporter at the scene did not say what happened to the others on the plane. CCTV quoted Sun Bangnan, deputy director of the Heilonjiang Public Security Department, as saying 48 people had been rescued and that the fire had been put out.

The plane had taken off from Heilongjiang’s capital of Harbin shortly before 9 p.m. (1300 GMT) and crashed a little more than an hour later.

Henan Airlines is based in the central Chinese province of the same name and flies smaller regional jets, mainly on routes in north and northeast China. Previously known as Kunpeng Airlines, the carrier was relaunched as Henan Airlines earlier this year.

Henan Airlines and many other regional Chinese airlines flying shorter routes have struggled in the past few years, losing passengers to high-speed railroad lines that China has aggressively expanded.