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The Bombardier CRJ200, operated by two pilots, had taken off from Baotou, nearly 360 miles west of Beijing, en route to eastern Shanghai, Xinhua news agency and China Eastern Airlines Corp. Ltd. said.

The weather was clear, with the temperature around 43 to 45 Fahrenheit, when the plane, operated by a unit of China Eastern, the Yunnan Branch Co., crashed into the lake in the giant Nanhai Park at 8:20 a.m., an airport official said.

"Witnesses said that the plane broke into flaming fragments, a house beside the park was damaged by the falling aircraft and several yachts nearby were scorched," Xinhua said.

The sohu.com news Web site said the plane crashed through a park ticket office and one park worker was missing.

The fire had been put out at the lake and about 100 firefighters and police were searching among lumps of ice for bodies.

State television showed pictures of rescuers pulling debris from below the broken ice. The remains of 36 victims had been found, Xinhua said.

The park, a mile from the runway, had been cordoned off by police.

"High-standard hospitals in Baotou have made arrangements for receiving the remains of victims. And doctors and nurses are providing medical and related services for families of the dead," Xinhua said.

Airport officials had been called to an emergency meeting, staff at the airport said. An official said there had been one foreigner on board, but his nationality was not immediately known.

Baotou, an industrial city of about 1 million people, is the largest city in Inner Mongolia.

China's last major crash was on May 7, 2002, when a China Northern flight from Beijing to Dalian fell into the sea after the pilot reported a fire in the cabin, killing 112 people.

The 68-ft Canadian Bombardier CRJ200 was the world's first 50-seat commuter jet.

Date: 21 NOV 2004 Time: 08:20 Type: Canadair CRJ200LR RegionalJet Operator: China Yunnan Airlines Registration: B-3072 ? Msn / C/n: 7697 Year built: 2002 Engines: 2 General Electric CF34-3B1 Crew: 6 fatalities / 6 on board Passengers: 47 fatalities / 47 on board Total: 53 fatalities / 53 on board Airplane damage: Written off Location: near Baotou Airport (BAV) (China) Phase: Initial climb Nature: Domestic Scheduled Passenger Departure airport: Baotou Airport (BAV) Destination airport: Shanghai-Hongqiao Airport (SHA) Flightnumber: 5210 Narrative: Crashed into a frozen lake in Nanhai Park just two kilometers past the runway. Reportedly the aircraft struck a park ticket office before it crashed into the water. State television said two people on the ground had been killed.

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AIRCRAFT PROFILE CANADAIR RJ
* Last hull-loss accident: 14 OCT 2004 Pinnacle Airlines/Northwest Airlink, Jefferson City (USA) - 2 fatalities
* Total number of hull-losses: 5 losses (5 accidents)
* Worst CRJ accident
* Survival rate for all fatal CRJ accidents: on average 28% of all occupants survived fatal accidents
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OPERATOR PROFILE CHINA YUNNAN
Regional airline operating some Boeing 737 and Canadair RegionalJet planes. The airline is in a process of merger with China Eastern Airlines.
founded: 1992
* 1st airliner hull-loss accident
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2004 SO FAR
* Number of fatal hull-loss airliner accidents : 24 (safety rank since 1950: 2nd safest)
* Number of fatalities: 397 (safety rank since 1950: safest)
(Coverage: fatal, multi engine civil airliner accidents)