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SCMP Reporter

Two Taiwanese pilots who were attacked in Zhuhai  on Saturday had used counterfeit money to hire a prostitute, a mainland-backed paper reported yesterday.

The attack left one of the pilots dead and the other injured.

Quoting local police, Hong Kong's Wen Wei Po newspaper said Guangdong police were searching for five men and a woman, and had asked other provinces to help track them down.

The suspects were recorded on closed-circuit television in the guesthouse where the pilots were staying, the paper reported.

Zhuhai police refused to confirm the cause of the attack, saying the case was still being investigated.

Representatives of Taiwan-based Far East Air Transport,  which employed the pilots, said they were relying on mainland police to confirm the motive behind the attack that left Chien Sheng-chang, 29, dead, and Hsieh Cheng-wei, 47, with head injuries.

They were attacked  at about 5am on Saturday at a guesthouse belong to aviation training firm Xiangyi Aviation,  which offers flight simulation training for Boeing 757s.

The men, who had travelled to Zhuhai with a third pilot, had returned to their  rooms at the guesthouse at 1am on Saturday after a midnight snack, said Hanson Chang Yau-pen, senior public relations manager for Far East Air Transport.

But Wen Wei Po said the two pilots  had shared  the same room and had met a prostitute on Friday night whom they had brought  to the guesthouse.

The paper said the woman was paid 400 yuan,  but found one of the banknotes was a forgery.

She then called in several men, who armed themselves with knives, to  teach the pilots a lesson, the paper reported.

Arriving at the guesthouse at 5am, the men asked the pair to exchange the counterfeit money. A brawl broke out in which  Chien was stabbed in the stomach and back and the gang fled.

Another mainland-backed paper, Ta Kung Pao, said the dispute arose after a suspected payment with counterfeit money at an entertainment venue.

Yesterday, Chien's mother, four relatives and a monk arrived in Zhuhai. Mr Chang said they would  return home with Chien's ashes following his cremation.



Pilots 'paid prostitute with fake currency'