Chinese President Jiang Zemin sent a message to Bahraini Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Isa al-Khalifa Thursday, expressing his condolences on the Airbus crash in Bahrain Wednesday night.
Jiang expressed his shock after learning that a Gulf Air passenger plane crashed in Bahrain, killing all the 143 people on board.
The two-engined Airbus A320, coming from Cairo, Egyptian capital, crashed into the shallow waters in the Gulf near the runway Wednesday night after two unsuccessful landing attempts at the Bahraini International Airport.
"I wish to express profound condolences on behalf of the Chinese government and people, and in my own name, to the victims and to your majesty and through you to the families of the victims, the friendly state of Bahrain, as well as our sincere sympathy to the governments and peoples of the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Oman, to which the Gulf Air belongs," Jiang said in the message.
Gulf Air Officials confirmed that the passengers include 63 Egyptians, 34 Bahrainis, 12 Saudis, two Britons, an Australian, nine Palestinians, six from the United Arab Emirates, three Chinese, one Korean, one Kuwaiti, one Sudanese and one Omani.
The three Chinese were employees of the Chinese Xinhua news agency, who were returning home after visiting their husbands at Xinhua's Middle East regional office in Cairo, a spokesman for the agency said in Beijing.
