Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing sent a telegram to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday to express his regrets and condolences on the casualties caused by an air crash.  

A Russian airliner, carrying 46 passengers and seven crew members, crashed while attempting to land Wednesday in the country's far north Yamalo-Nenestiky Aok Autonomous Region. Twenty-nine people were killed and the other 24 survived.

(Xinhua News Agency March 17, 2005)