Five people died on Wednesday (July 20) when the seaplane they were in hit a bridge in Shanghai on a flight to an offshore island, Chinese authorities said.
The aircraft, operated by AVIC Joy General Aviation, was carrying 10 people from Shanghai's Jinshan district to Zhoushan, an island in the eastern province of Zhejiang, the district government said in a statement.
One survivor was seriously injured while four others sustained lighter injuries, authorities added.
The cause of the accident is under investigation.
Yang Zaixing, a local resident and witness, described the moment the seaplane crashed.
"Where the accident happened was out west, pretty much in this direction, about 150 metres away. It made a sudden U-turn and headed towards the bridge. As it was heading towards the bridge, we thought it was most certainly going to turn, nothing out of the ordinary. But all of a sudden its speed increased greatly, so much so that we felt the distance was not enough for it to take off. We couldn't think of why it would crash here, we couldn't figure it out. Then we thought 'a crash is going happen', and indeed, a crash happened immediately afterwards," he said.
Official Xinhua news agency said the airline was the first seaplane operator in eastern China approved to carry passengers.
An airline official, reached by telephone, declined to comment.
AVIC Joy General Aviation is an affiliate of state-owned Aviation Industry Corp of China.
