Agence France-Presse,
BEIJING: Forty people died in a military plane crash in eastern China, official media said late Sunday, confirming that all onboard were killed.
President Hu Jintao expressed his condolences for those killed in the transport plane crash on Saturday in Anhui province, Xinhua news agency said.
“The motherland and people will never forget their (the victims') heroic names and merits,” Hu said in the first official response to the crash.
“They have made important contributions to national defense and the modernization of the army,” he said.
The victims had “firmly remembered the sacred mission endowed on them by the party and the people” and had “defied all hardships to faithfully perform their duties,” he said in his message of condolence.
Hu has ordered an investigation into the crash, dispatching a team to the site and demanding that the military draw lessons from the incident, Xinhua said. The investigation is headed by General Guo Boxiong, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, who has flown to the site.
Hu, who also heads the military, offered his sympathies to the families of those killed.
The plane was on a mission when it crashed Saturday afternoon, Xinhua quoted air force sources as saying, without giving details.
The exact location in Anhui province of the crash and the names of the victims were also unknown, it said.
Xinhua's report was the first from state Chinese media since midnight Saturday when it released a three-line report quoting military sources as confirming the crash.
Provincial government officials would not comment on Sunday.
Official media often remain quiet on accidents of this nature. At the start of April, Hong Kong newspapers reported the death of a Chinese airforce pilot whose plane crashed on the southern island of Hainan.
A witness who took part in the rescue operation later told AFP that the plane exploded in mid-air, but the police and government refused to comment.
