Investigators have said that there is no evidence so far for sabotage as having been responsible for the plane crash that killed 55 people in north China on Sunday.

Xu Li, a senior official from the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC), made the remarks at a conference on Monday in Baotou in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, where the crash occurred.

Efforts are still under way to determine the cause of the accident, he said.

The State Council organized a team on Monday to investigate the plane crash. Wang Xianzheng, head of the State Work Safety Administration, will lead the team, which comprises government officials, technicians and engineering experts.

The 50-seat Bombardier CRJ-200 jet, carrying 47 passengers and six crew members, fell on Sunday morning a dozen seconds after it took off from Baotou. One park worker and another local women on the ground were also killed.

Compensation arrangements for the victims are already in progress. Twenty-five of them were confirmed to have purchased insurance policies before boarding the flight, each with a premium worth 400,000 yuan (US$ 48,000), said Zhi Pengfei, regional director of the Insurance Supervision Bureau. The first sum has been paid to one of the families.

Experts from the rescue and salvage bureau from the Ministry of Communications have arrived at the accident site to help search for the flight data recorder, Xinhua News Agency reported.

But some say it will provide little help in determining the cause of the crash since it happened so soon after take off.

The incident may be a result of mechanical failure or faulty operational technique, said an aviation expert from the civil aviation cadres' college.

According to a statement from Bombardier Aerospace, the airplane manufacturer, an expert team has been sent to China to help in the accident investigation, Xinhua reported.

Owned by China Eastern Airlines, the plane was bound for Shanghai.

While working to handle the plane crash, CAAC urged its air companies on Monday to intensify safety checks. The administration has dispatched teams across the country to carry out checks into all CRJ-200 airliners in service, Xu said. All CRJ-200 flights will be suspended until they are completed.

China has nearly 20 CRJ aircraft owned by seven different airline companies.

Airlines must strengthen flying skills and aircraft maintenance to ensure safer flights, an urgent notice released by the CAAC said Monday.

Airports must intensify security check measures and tighten management of restricted areas, the notice said.

Air control departments have also been asked to pay additional attention to safety supervision to ensure air traffic safety.

(China.org.cn Xinhua News Agency November 23, 2004)