Death Toll 127 in Crash of Hijacked Chinese Airliner : Disaster: The Boeing 737 careened into two other planes, destroying one full of passengers. At least 96 people survive.

At least 127 people died Tuesday after the crew of a Chinese jetliner refused a hijacker’s demands to be flown elsewhere and attempted to land at Canton airport.

As the Boeing 737, carrying 94 passengers and a crew of 10, touched down on the runway, the hijacker and crew were struggling in the cockpit, survivors said. The aircraft careened into two other Chinese planes on the ground, first an empty Boeing 707, then a Boeing 757 loaded with passengers waiting to take off for Shanghai.

The plane carrying the hijacker “burst into flame” and the Shanghai-bound plane “was destroyed,” the official New China News Agency reported.

“It was just a crematorium,” a Western witness said.

Wang Chunfu, spokesman for China’s state airline CAAC, told a news conference that the death toll was 127. Wang said 46 were seriously injured. At least 50 other people reportedly survived.

Even before the landing was attempted, authorities apparently realized there was a risk of disaster. Police had sealed off the airport about half an hour before the 9 a.m. crash, and ambulances and firetrucks were on the scene.

The plane, which took off from the Fujian province city of Xiamen, was in the air for slightly more than two hours, the New China News Agency reported. The flight to Canton, which was the aircraft’s scheduled destination, normally takes only 70 minutes.

The official Chinese news agency asserted that after being notified of the hijacking attempt, Chinese officials authorized the crew to “land at any airport, domestic or otherwise, to ensure the safety of the airliner and the passengers.” No immediate explanation was offered for why the crew still tried to land at Canton.

Any successful hijacking, however, could be an embarrassment to China’s leadership, which has enforced tight security nationwide since last year’s violent crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing. Security is especially tight now with the Asian Games under way in Beijing, and authorities had expressed determination to prevent any terrorist incidents.

In April of last year, the Chinese pilot of a Shanghai Eastern Airlines flight with 44 passengers aboard fooled a hijacker who was demanding to be taken to Taiwan. The pilot instead flew a circuitous route and landed at Fuzhou airport. The hijacker, after realizing what had happened, blew himself up with explosives. Two passengers were injured.

Wang, the CAAC spokesman, said one Chinese man was responsible for the hijacking. Other unconfirmed reports said two hijackers were involved.

The hijacker was demanding to be flown to Hong Kong or Taiwan, according to varying reports.

Officials at Canton airport told diplomats and reporters that the hijacker detonated a bomb inside the plane, causing the crash. But several survivors denied that there was any blast before the collisions with the other planes, saying instead that the crash was caused by a scuffle in the cockpit.

At least two American citizens were on the plane. Erin Lynne Thomas of Oklahoma City was hospitalized in good condition with a broken limb, according to U.S. Embassy spokesman Sheridan Bell in Beijing. Another American woman who had been sitting next to Thomas was missing, Bell said.