40 killed in Chinese military plane crash

Chinese president Hu Jintao has ordered an investigation into the weekend crash of a military transport plane that killed all 40 passengers and crew.

The Xinhua report late yesterday was the first official confirmation of the death toll from Saturday afternoon’s crash in eastern China.

Villagers near the crash site in Anhui province described a gruesome scene, with bodies and body parts strewn across a mountain slope where the plane went down.

Immediately after learning of the crash, Hu, who heads the Communist Party commission that oversees the military, ordered an investigation team led by a senior general to the crash site to determine the cause, Xinhua said, citing unidentified sources from China’s Air Force.

No other details about the victims or the flight have been released.

The Chinese military is routinely tight-lipped about its activities and mishaps, drawing criticism from foreign governments, especially the United States, for its secrecy.

The Xinhua report on the death toll was released more than 30 hours after the crash. Newspapers today carried brief, identical Xinhua dispatches about Hu sending condolences to families of the victims – an indication that the government was keeping a tight rein on media, all of which is state controlled.

Authorities from the Anhui provincial government and Guangde county, where the plane crashed, refused to comment.

A spokesman from the Defence Ministry said there was no official statement yet. “It’s not convenient for me to say anything now,” said the spokesman, who refused to give his name.

Hu has demanded that the military “draw lesson from the crash in a serious and earnest manner,’ Xinhua said.

Gen. Guo Boxiong, the commission’s vice chairman, has flown to the crash scene to head up the investigation, it said.

Guangde county is about 125 miles south-west of Shanghai and is filled with low mountain villages famous for producing bamboo furniture.

Villagers said they heard an explosion and rushed to the site. One witness said the main body of the plane destroyed a section of bamboo forest after it crashed into a mountain, while the tail dropped onto nearby fields.

Thick black smoke billowed from the wreck and bodies and body parts were strewn around the area, they said.