China Focus

Bodies of 8 Chinese to arrive home Tuesday

(Xinhua/chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-01-18 06:32

"Dear comrades, we are taking you home," reads the placard held by Chinese police officers who bid a farewell to their colleagues who died in the devastating earthquake in Port-au-prince, capital of Haiti, January 17, 2010. The bodies of the eight Chinese police officers are expected to be brought home on Tuesday morning by a chartered plane. [Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING: The bodies of eight Chinese police officers who died in the Haiti quake are expected to be brought home on Tuesday morning by a chartered plane, China's Ministry of Public Security said late Sunday night.

The Boeing 747 cargo plane, of China Southern Airlines, took off from Haiti's capital city Port-au-Prince at 10:36 pm Sunday Beijing Time, after sending the first batch of humanitarian aid materials from China to Haiti.

It was expected to arrive at the Beijing Capital International Airport on Tuesday morning after stopovers at the Miami Airport and Anchorage International Airport, according to the ministry.

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Of the victims, four were officers of China's peacekeeping force in Haiti and the rest were in a team sent by the Ministry of Public Security of China to Port-au-Prince for peacekeeping consultations.

The eight were meeting UN officials in the headquarters of the UN Stabilization Mission in Port-au-Prince when the quake struck at about 4:50 pm Tuesday local time.

The first batch of China's humanitarian aid is worth 13 million yuan ($1.9 million) included 1,000 tents, water, food, emergency lights, medicines, clothing and water purification equipment.

The aid is part of an relief package worth 30 million yuan announced by the Chinese government Friday.