Thirteen family members of the Chinese tourists who were killed or injured in Friday's bus accident in Arizona left for the United States on Tuesday afternoon.

They departed the Shanghai Pudong International Airport at 2:50 p.m. on China Eastern Airline's flight MU 583 and are expected to arrive at 10:30 a.m. local time on Tuesday in Los Angeles.

Wu Shuang, 8, leaves a hospital in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Sunday with his father Wu Shougui and mother Bao Ruihua, who were discharged earlier. [Shanghai Daily]

The purpose of the trip is to claim six bodies and visit seven others who remain in hospital. Two of the injured have been released out of hospital.

Three municipal government officials and one employee with Donghu Travel Agency are accompanying the family members on the trip.

Chung Yinghan, a Hong Kong man now living in Shanghai, told Xinhua he was "extremely sad." His wife Lau Yeekwan was injured in the bus accident and his 16-year-old daughter, Chung Yuching, was killed.

The 13 people are the first group to go to the US. Another round of relatives, together with a lawyer and a doctor, will leave on Wednesday.

There were 15 Chinese tourists aboard the bus, which was on its way back from visiting the Grand Canyon as part of an optional trip, when it crashed Friday. Five members of the 20-member group which had flown from Shanghai to San Francisco as part of a package trip, chose not to take part in the bus tour, the Shanghai Tourism Administration said.

The cause of the accident is still under investigation.

The China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co. Ltd. (CPIC) has paid 1.85 million yuan (270,000 US dollars) to families of the six dead from the mainland and Hong Kong, according to the CPIC Shanghai Branch.

(Xinhua News Agency February 3, 2009)