Grief takes hold as Chan's body returns

Grief swept the apron at Kai Tak airport yesterday as the wife of David Chan Yuk-cheung met her husband's coffin, over which she draped the Chinese flag.

Relatives and friends greeted flight CX565 carrying Chan's body and 15 other people who had been aboard the protest ship Kien Hwa No 2 as the aircraft taxied to its berth at 2.30 pm.

Lau Shun-hing wailed as her husband's wooden coffin was lowered slowly from the cargo hold.

Ms Lau almost collapsed with emotion as she led a brief service with the roar of jet engines in the background.

'You promised to return safely,' she said as she knelt in front of the casket, on which had been placed white paper ribbons with the words: 'Welcome home our brave soldier of Baodiao' and 'Patriotic hero David Chan will be remembered forever'.

As the flag was draped over the coffin, the welcoming group bowed three times and a hearse took Chan's remains to the Kowloon public mortuary for a postmortem examination ahead of a possible inquest into his death.