A memorial service was held on Thursday in the barracks of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force in Jiangsu Province, east China, for those killed in a military plane crash on June 3.

Hu Jintao, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, Chinese president, and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), sent a floral wreath.

The transport aircraft crashed in East China's Anhui Province on June 3, killing all 40 people on board. Air Force sources said that the aircraft was on a mission when it crashed, according to previous reports.

No details were available about the mission, the exact location of the crash or the identities of the victims.

CMC vice chairmen Guo Boxiong, Cao Gangchuan and Xu Caihou, and CMC members Liang Guanglie, Li Jinai, Liao Xilong, Chen Bingde, Qiao Qingchen, Zhang Dingfa and Jing Zhiyuan also presented their floral wreaths at the service.

Delivering a speech at the service, Guo Boxiong described the deaths of the Air Force personnel as an enormous loss to their families, and a major mishap for the Air Force.

According to Guo, Hu is extremely concerned about the matter. Hu has reportedly ordered a probe into the cause of the accident and has given instructions for the proper handling of follow-up issues.

On June 4, Hu sent his condolences to the families of the victims.

Guo said that the victims, who had carried out their sacred mission endorsed by the Party and the people, showed their absolute faith in the Party, love for the motherland and their people, and endless pursuit for the modernization of national defense.

He said that the victims had made outstanding contributions, with painstaking efforts, to the building up of a powerful Air Force.

"They have composed a brave song of patriotism and heroism with their lives," he said, "Their contribution will be inscribed in the hearts of their compatriots and their heroic names will stay alive together with the mountains and rivers."
Guo called for others to learn from the victims; to learn from their lofty thinking of loving the Party and the country and devotion to national defense, their revolutionary spirits in respecting hard work and fulfilling their duties, their scientific, truth-seeking, and meticulous work style, and their fighting style of braving all hardships and struggling hard.

According to Guo, the PLA headquarters and the Air Force headquarters sent investigation teams to the site immediately after the crash. The investigators combed the area looking for clues with assistance from troops from the PLA Nanjing Area Command, the Chinese People's Armed Police, and local Party committee, government and people.

Guo thanked the family members of the victims for giving priority to the interests of the Party and the country and helping the authorities to handle the follow-up issues.

He continued that the Air Force is a strategic power to support the security and development of the country, and it shoulders the arduous task of carrying the PLA's historical mission into the new century. "The CPC central committee, the CMC and chairman Hu have attached great importance to the construction of the Air Force," he said.

He noted that the country will continue to actively push the modernization of the Air Force. Further, the PLA must and will perform its duties in a scientific way to ensure the safety and stability of the troops.

Also present at the service were the victims' families, and representatives from military headquarters and local governments.

(Xinhua News Agency June 16, 2006)