The 24 crew of a crippled American spy plane held on China's Hainan island are exercising and getting regular news reports and e-mails from home, a US diplomat said after meeting the crew on Tuesday.

"The folks that are with them provided some cigarettes for those who smoke and they're getting just about everything that they need," US Defence Attache Neal Sealock told reporters after he met the crew for the fifth time since their detention.

"The crew members are provided with English newspapers and get timely articles from the US side and all e-mail messages from their families," he said.

"Their spirits remain high," Sealock said on the 10th day of the crew's detention following a collision between their spy plane and a Chinese fighter jet. They were able to exercise and move about the building in which they are being held, he said.

Earlier, Beijing reiterated its demand for a US apology for the collision, in which China lost a fighter jet and its pilot. Washington has refused an apology, saying its spy plane did not cause the accident.

(Agencies 04/10/2001)