The Beijing Olympic flame left St. Petersburg on Saturday for London to continue its global relay.

Shortly after 7 p.m. (1500 GMT) the charted plane with the flame took off.

The Olympic torch relay in St. Petersburg started on Saturday morning from the Victory Square in the center of the city and covered 20 kilometers. Each of the 80 torch bearers ran about 250 meters. The end of the race is the Palace Square where a grand ceremony was held to celebrate the success.

Tens of thousands of people went to track down the relay route. The whole city was dipped in an atmosphere of glamour and happiness.

The Beijing Olympic flame was flown into St. Petersburg from Turkey's largest city Istanbul on Friday.

(Xinhua News Agency April 6, 2008)