Shenzhen Airlines flight lands safely after diving thousands of metres within 2 minutes

BEIJING (BLOOMBERG) - A Chinese flight that plunged more than 5,500m within two minutes has landed safely, according to a report by state-owned media.

A Shenzhen Airlines flight dived from 9,297m to 3,733m within two minutes, about 25 minutes after taking off, according to the report by state broadcaster CCTV.

The plane had taken off from Shenzhen, a city bordering Hong Kong, and was headed to Xi'an in north-west China.

The A-330 built by Airbus suffered an "abnormal pressure increase" when it climbed to 9,200m, and the pilots followed procedure and descended to a safe height, according to a statement from Shenzhen Airlines.

The flight returned to Shenzhen at 9.13am Beijing time and all the passengers and cabin crew left the aircraft safely, the airline said in an earlier statement.

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