Flight data provided by an air traffic monitoring service has depicted a battle for control of China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735, suggesting the plane pulled out of a 22,000 foot nosedive and briefly started climbing before a second dive sent it crashing into the ground.
No survivors have been found in the wreckage of the Boeing 737-800 that crashed on Monday in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. There were 132 people aboard.
The data published by FlightRadar24 suggests the plane was at an altitude of 29,100 feet when it went into a high-speed dive at 2:20.43pm, losing altitude at a maximum rate of about 31,000 feet per minute (348 mph or 560km/h).
A graphic by FlightRadar24 show the altitude, ground speed and rate of descent of China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735 in the final 150 seconds before it crashed on Monday. Graphic: FlightRadar24
Twenty seconds into the dive, the rate of descent slowed, and over the next 45 seconds the dive was further arrested until the plane levelled off 7,425 feet above the ground. It then began climbing.