Twenty-four American crew who have been held on Hainan Island for 11 days since a US spy plane and a Chinese jet fighter collided are due to leave for home today after the US said it was 'very sorry' for the incident. President Jiang Zemin said China had agreed to release the crew on 'humanitarian grounds', Xinhua reported. But he said the incident was not over and hoped the US would take China's position into consideration. A chartered Continental Airlines plane left the US Pacific territory of Guam at 12.30am to pick up the crew. The flight was due to take about 5.5 hours. An agreement was reached yesterday afternoon when US Ambassador Joseph Prueher met and delivered a letter to Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan in Beijing. The letter said both President George W. Bush and US Secretary of State Colin Powell expressed their 'sincere regret' over the missing Chinese pilot, Wang Wei, and conveyed to his family that they were 'very sorry for their loss'. It went on to say that the US was 'very sorry' for entering China's airspace and admitted that the landing did not have verbal clearance. But it said the plane made the emergency landing after following international emergency procedures. The US letter said a full picture of what transpired was still unclear but the two sides would have further discussions over the causes and how to avoid similar incidents. Mr Jiang, midway through a six-country tour of Latin America, declined to comment to reporters about his country's decision to release the US crew members. He was approached by the reporters in Montevideo during an appearance at the Uruguayan Congress, but only smiled as he walked past. Earlier, Mr Bush announced in Washington that he was glad the stand-off was coming to an end. 'I am pleased to be able to tell the American people that plans are under way to bring home our 24 servicemen and women from Hainan Island,' he said. 'This morning, the Chinese Government assured our American ambassador that the crew would leave promptly. We are working on arrangements to pick them up and bring them home. 'This has been a difficult situation for both our countries. I know that the American people join me in expressing sorrow for the loss of life of a Chinese pilot. Our prayers are with his wife and his child.' Military sources in Guam would not give details of the aircraft picking up the crew or where it would head after leaving Hainan Island. CNN reported the plane would return to Guam initially then take the crew to Hawaii. US officials in Haikou last night began to make arrangements for the release of the crew. US military attache Brigadier-General Neal Sealock and Ted Gong, head of the consular section at the US Consulate in Guangzhou, met Hainan Foreign Affairs officials to discuss the arrangements. 'We're very happy to say we're now in some receipt of some requirements that we'll have to work through,' General Sealock said in a statement but added that he did not know when the crew would be able to leave China. With the plane having left Guam, a sixth meeting with the crew did not go ahead last night. Crew members were expected to speak with their families for the first time since the collision on April 1. 'Mr Gong and I surrendered our cell phones to the team and we're assured that each member of the crew is going to be permitted to make telephone calls home immediately,' General Sealock said. In his meeting with Admiral Prueher, Mr Tang again called on the US to take 'full responsibility' for the incident, provide convincing explanations to the Chinese people, stop its reconnaissance activities over the Chinese coast and take measures to stop the recurrence of such incidents. 'It is entirely reasonable and legitimate for the Chinese side to ask for an apology to the Chinese people from the US side,' Mr Tang said. Initial Chinese television reports described the Americans as using the word daoqian, meaning to make a formal apology, but later this was changed to yihan and qianyi, ordinary expressions of regret. Xinhua quoted an editorial to be published in today's People's Daily urging the country to rally behind the leadership of President Jiang and declared the latest development as a 'victory' for Chinese foreign policy. At a press conference to announce the decision to release the Americans, Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi said the case had not concluded yet but did not say when further talks would take place or when China would return the US reconnaissance plane. 'According to international law and the provisions of the relevant laws of China, the Chinese side has every right to conduct a comprehensive investigation of this incident,' he said. Based on the investigation results, China would decide on what to do with the plane, he said. Last night, a cautious optimism was spreading across Washington that any damage to Sino-US relations could be contained following an end to the impasse amid warnings of some tough weeks still ahead. 'There will undoubtedly be some damage and we will just have to embark on some swift mortaring to patch things up,' said John Foarde, the vice-president of the pro-trade and pro-engagement US-China Business Council. The deal has brought relief to the Asian-Pacific region. US stock markets also breathed a little easier with the deal contributing to an opening rally on Wall Street. The April 1 mid-air collision over the South China Sea brought down an F-8 Chinese fighter and forced the crew members of the US EP-3E Aries II reconnaissance plane to make an emergency landing at a military base on Hainan Island. QUOTZGET