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Copter crewman's body found
By Dong Zhen |
April 21, 2009, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
SHANGHAI police said yesterday that they've recovered the body of a mechanic who had been missing since a helicopter from China's polar explorer ship went down at the city's Waigaoqiao Port on April 12.
Fishermen discovered the remains yesterday morning near the muddy banks of Changxing Island. Officers found identification on the body that belonged to the missing chopper crewman, 56-year-old Yang Yongchang. Final confirmation will come after a tissue sample is analyzed for a DNA match.
The ill-fated helicopter was carrying four men when it plunged into the sea only a minute after taking off from the ice breaker Snow Dragon, which was moored at the port near the mouth of the Yangtze River.
Pilots Yang Hua and Li Baohui and Tang Lijun, another mechanic, survived with minor injuries after being pulled out of the water by nearby ships. The cause of the accident is still under investigation.
The Snow Dragon arrived in port two days earlier after completing a research mission to the Antarctic. Its management had rented the chopper from the Harbin-based China Flying Dragon General Aviation Co to support the polar exploration voyage.
The body was discovered lodged in the underwater structure of a dock owned by the Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery Co at 8:50am, 6 to 7 kilometers from the crash site, police told Shanghai Daily.
Police brought the body onshore about 10am, and investigators conducted a preliminary examination, which they said ruled out foul play.
Officers retrieved a mobile phone and business cards that belonged to Yang, and the height of the body and the clothing matched that of the missing mechanic, authorities said. Yang's family has been informed and is scheduled to visit the funeral home where the man's body was taken, police said.
Yang was a native of Harbin in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. He was also an official of the helicopter company, police said. He had served on the 173-day scientific expedition to Antarctica, the longest since China began exploring the South Pole.
Fishermen discovered the remains yesterday morning near the muddy banks of Changxing Island. Officers found identification on the body that belonged to the missing chopper crewman, 56-year-old Yang Yongchang. Final confirmation will come after a tissue sample is analyzed for a DNA match.
The ill-fated helicopter was carrying four men when it plunged into the sea only a minute after taking off from the ice breaker Snow Dragon, which was moored at the port near the mouth of the Yangtze River.
Pilots Yang Hua and Li Baohui and Tang Lijun, another mechanic, survived with minor injuries after being pulled out of the water by nearby ships. The cause of the accident is still under investigation.
The Snow Dragon arrived in port two days earlier after completing a research mission to the Antarctic. Its management had rented the chopper from the Harbin-based China Flying Dragon General Aviation Co to support the polar exploration voyage.
The body was discovered lodged in the underwater structure of a dock owned by the Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery Co at 8:50am, 6 to 7 kilometers from the crash site, police told Shanghai Daily.
Police brought the body onshore about 10am, and investigators conducted a preliminary examination, which they said ruled out foul play.
Officers retrieved a mobile phone and business cards that belonged to Yang, and the height of the body and the clothing matched that of the missing mechanic, authorities said. Yang's family has been informed and is scheduled to visit the funeral home where the man's body was taken, police said.
Yang was a native of Harbin in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. He was also an official of the helicopter company, police said. He had served on the 173-day scientific expedition to Antarctica, the longest since China began exploring the South Pole.
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