Monday June 5, 2006
China orders investigation after military plane crashes
BEIJING (AP) = The weekend crash of a military transport plane in eastern China killed all 40 people aboard and prompted President Hu Jintao to order an investigation into its cause, the government's Xinhua News Agency reported.
The Xinhua report late Sunday was the first official confirmation of the death toll from Saturday afternoon's crash. Villagers near the crash site in Anhui province described a gruesome scene, with bodies and body parts strewn across a mountain slope where the plane went down.
Immediately after learning of the crash, Hu, who heads the Communist Party commission that oversees the military, ordered an investigation team led by a senior general to the crash site to determine the cause, Xinhua said, citing unidentified sources from China's Air Force.
No other details about the victims or the flight have been released.
The Chinese military is routinely tightlipped about its activities and mishaps, drawing criticism from foreign governments, especially the United States, for its secrecy.
The Xinhua report on the death toll was released more than 30 hours after the crash. Newspapers on Monday carried brief, identical Xinhua dispatches about Hu sending condolences to families of the victims - an indication that the government was keeping a tight rein on media, all of which is state controlled.
Officials from the Anhui provincial government and Guangde county, where the plane crashed, refused to comment on Monday.
Telephones were not answered at the Defense Ministry.
Hu has demanded that the military "draw lesson from the crash in a serious and earnest manner,'' Xinhua said.
Gen. Guo Boxiong, the commission's vice chairman, has flown to the crash scene to head up the investigation, it said.
Guangde county is about 200 kilometers (125 miles) southwest of Shanghai and is filled with low mountain villages famous for producing bamboo furniture.
Villagers said they heard an explosion and rushed to the site. One witness said the main body of the plane destroyed a section of bamboo forest after it crashed into a mountain, while the tail dropped onto nearby fields.
Thick black smoke billowed from the wreck and bodies and body parts were strewn around the area, they said.
For Another perspective from the China Daily, a partner of Asia News Network, click here
News Poll
- Teacher held for oral sex on Year Two girl
- Lau sought psychiatrist’s help after death of fan’s dad
- Police shoot dead leader of ‘Berong Gang’
- Australian court sentences Malaysian who posed as taxi driver
- Teoh Beng Hock exhumed for second autopsy (Update)
- Foreign woman falls to death at high-end condo
- Prime Minister comes up with plan to end crisis in MCA
- 15-year-old held for trying to kill mum with acid-laced sarong
- Indonesia seizes 75tons of explosive material from M’sia
- Fresh polls in six to eight months if new mechanism used
- Australian court sentences Malaysian who posed as taxi driver
- Teacher held for oral sex on Year Two girl
- 10 states see increase in number of dengue cases
- AirAsia launches new flights to three Indian cities
- Teoh Beng Hock exhumed for second autopsy (Update)
- Lau sought psychiatrist’s help after death of fan’s dad
- Prime Minister comes up with plan to end crisis in MCA
- Take care of yourself first
- Police shoot dead leader of ‘Berong Gang’
- Our diversity is a blessing, says PM
RSS
