The bodies of the five crew from the crashed military helicopter found in southwest China's earthquake zone were cremated in the Sichuan provincial capital Chengdu yesterday, a military source said.

 

 

The bodies were driven in hearses to Chengdu from the epicenter town of Yingxiu around 10:30 a.m.

At the crew members' military airforce command airport, hundreds of soldiers, local residents and relatives of the crew paid a three-minute silent tribute to the airmen, who were each covered by the Chinese national flag.

The bodies were later driven to a local funeral parlor and were cremated there.

The crew members were bestowed with the title of "martyrs" by the Chengdu Military Area Command.

A memorial ceremony for them will be held later this month, the military source said.

The bodies were recovered from a remote densely covered forested mountainous area. They arrived in Yingxiu Town yesterday morning.

Tang Qiliang, deputy director of the political department of the Sichuan Military Area Command, said rescuers were still trekking on foot, carrying back the bodies of three police and 10 civilians.

Their bodies would be returned to their hometown of Lixian County, Tang said.

The Mi-171 military transport helicopter crashed 7.5 kilometers from Yingxiu on May 31. Searchers found the crash site on Tuesday after a 12-day search.

The debris from the chopper was widely scattered over dense vegetation.

The helicopter was carrying injured civilians on a return trip from quake-ravaged Lixian County to Chengdu.

(Shanghai Daily June 14, 2008)