A military transport plane carrying 40 people crashed in eastern China’s Anhui province on Saturday, the government said on Sunday. A local official said at least five people were killed.
Villagers described a chaotic crash scene, with bodies and body parts strewn across a mountain slope where the plane crashed and burned.
The official Xinhua News Agency said Saturday’s crash is under investigation, citing a military staffer whose name was not given. The staffer told Xinhua that 40 people, including ”crew members and other people”, were on board when the plane went down.
He did not have any information about casualties, Xinhua said.
China’s military is routinely tight-lipped about its activities and mishaps, and has drawn criticism from other governments, especially the United States, for its secrecy. However, some effort has been made by China’s top brass in recent years to be more open as part of overall calls for greater transparency and accountability in the government.
An official who answered the phone at the Anhui provincial government office said the accident occurred at about 4pm local time in Yaocun, a village in Anhui’s eastern Guangde county, and that five bodies have been recovered.
The official, who refused to give his name, said it is unclear how many people were aboard the plane.
Guangde, about 200km south-west of Shanghai, encompasses a handful of low mountain villages famous for producing bamboo furniture.
A villager in Tongkai village, about 5km from the crash site in Yaocun, said many local villagers rushed to the area after hearing an explosion.
The man, who was reached by telephone and would only give his surname, Tang, said the main body of the plane crashed into a mountain, destroying a section of bamboo forest. The tail dropped on to farm fields, he said.
Tang said he went to the mountain site before the area had been cordoned off, and saw two male bodies and numerous body parts strewn about.
A woman from Yaocun village who would only give her surname, Gao, said she rushed to the scene shortly after the crash and saw thick black smoke billowing up from the wrecked plane. She also said she saw two male bodies in civilian, not military, clothes, as well as numerous body parts.
Gao and Tang both said that the area has since been closed off by officials.
A woman who answered the phone at the Guangde county government office said she was unaware of any plane crash. She wouldn’t give her name.
A man who answered the phone at the foreign affairs office of the defence ministry said he had no information about a military plane crash and refused to give his name.
In 2003, China shocked many by disclosing the deaths of 70 sailors in a submarine accident and reporting that it had meted out disciplinary action to a number of top officers.
Yet, the new openness has its limits and the defence ministry remains a closed shop to most outsiders. Even three years after the submarine accident, neither the exact date nor specific causes of the deaths have been announced. — Sapa-AP