>> reporter: well, the rescue crews are at the scene tonight. they're combing the area for clues. they're finding fragments and they're finding debris, but they're not finding any signs of life. 123 passengers on board along with nine crew. what we know at this point is that flight 5735 took off from kunming airport just after 1:00 local time today, heading over the mountains to guangzhou, about an hour into it, 130 miles out of guangzhou, the plane abruptly lost speed and altitude, according to the flight tracking platform, the plane was at 29,100 feet, and then plunged 21,000 feet in just over a minute. and then it appeared to regain altitude, but then continued to plunge. the civil aviation authority here said that radar contact was lost. now, weather doesn't seem to be