Update | Religious rites to honour dead in Taiwan plane crash as bodies flown home
Bereaved families of 40 people killed in TransAsia Airways plane crash in Taiwan hold a religious ceremony to honour the dead as bodies of three mainland Chinese victims are taken home.
Bereaved families of 40 people killed in last week’s TransAsia Airways plane crash in Taiwan held a religious ceremony tonight to honour the dead as the bodies of three victims were repatriated to mainland China.
Clad in black, many relatives sobbed uncontrollably as Buddhist masters led them to a ceremonial hall in Taipei where sutras were recited to comfort the living and send the deceased to peace. The ceremony, held by abbots of Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Monastery based in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan, lasted for three hours.
The media was kept away from the relatives by guards hired by TransAsia to ensure they were not disturbed.
Earlier in the morning, the families of three of the mainlanders who died, Hu Shaoling, Huang Yucheng and Yang Xiaoli, escorted their remains back to Xiamen, in southeastern Fujian province - just opposite Taiwan's former defence outpost of Quemoy - on board Mandarin Airlines Flight AE991, the Taiwan Tourism Bureau said. "They were keen to take the remains [of their loved ones] back home for their own memorial and funeral services, so we helped to arrange for them to board a plane bound for Xiamen at about 8.40am," a bureau official said.
Government agencies across Taiwan would fly their flags at half-mast on Tuesday, the cabinet said. An official funeral ceremony will also be held for the relatives, friends and members of the public at Taipei's Second Funeral Parlor.
The families of the other mainland victims that have been found have yet to decide whether their relatives would be cremated in Taiwan, said TransAsia Airways, which would offer transportation assistance if needed. The airline's officials said it would negotiate with the families of the dead and injured about compensation amounts tomorrow.
Flight GE235 was carrying 58 people on board when it experienced engine problems shortly after taking off from Taipei Songshan Airport on Wednesday. The plane clipped a highway overpass as it banked sharply and crashed into the river.