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ATTEMPTS by Beijing to heal the wounds of the Qiandao Lake tragedy have apparently backfired with relatives of the Taiwanese victims criticising the authorities of concealing and intentionally destroying evidence.

  The relatives were yesterday shown the charred boat yesterday on which the 24 Taiwanese tourists and their eight mainland tour guides were burnt to death on March 31.

  ''The Chinese Government is not sincere in helping us,'' said one victim's relative Chen Chin-tzu.

  Relatives' representative Wang Tse-lung said he had pictures of the boat which could prove that the pleasure boat had been further damaged since their last visit.

  ''Last time [in April], there were only a few holes found on the boat's plastic shade . . . But it [the shade] is totally damaged now,'' Mr Wang claimed.

  ''What are they [the mainland authorities] trying to hide from us?'' he asked.

  Another relative, Lin Chi-neng, said the top of the bow had been repainted.

  In addition to the pleasure boat, the relatives and a delegation of experts of Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) were also taken to a display room where they were shown two hunting rifles used by the murderers.

   They also saw 33 pictures developed from films taken by the Taiwanese victims before the murder, some cash and six cameras belonging to the victims.

  Despite this evidence, the relatives claimed that the Chinese authorities had broken an earlier promise of giving them a forensic report - more than a month after the autopsies were completed.

  ''We have been here for four days. And today is the first time we have been given some practical information about the case. However, the scene [of the crime] has been damaged.

  ''The video they have shown us in the last two days is also incomplete.

  ''How can I know the truth and be satisfied?'' Mr Wang said.

  But Hangzhou's Public Security Bureau Criminal Investigation Team Commander Li Shuguang denied they had destroyed evidence of the massacre.

  ''We have to sweep up the ashes to look for evidence.

  ''The point of the explosion was discovered after cleaning the cabin,'' Mr Li said.

  Hsu Hui-you, secretary-general of the SEF said the visit yesterday was ''helpful''.

  ''We hope we could come to a conclusion when we go back to Hangzhou,'' Mr Hsu said.

  ''What we are doing is to manage the aftermath of the incident objectively and reasonably. We hope cross-strait relations would return to normal quickly.'' 



Bereaved angered by 'destroyed evidence'