(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-06-13 20:29

CHENGDU - The bodies of the five crew from the crashed military helicopter found in southwest China's earthquake zone were cremated in the Sichuan Provincial capital Chengdu on Friday, a military source said.

The remains of the crashed military helicopter are seen in this picture taken on June 11, 2008. The Mi-171 military transport helicopter crashed at 2:56 pm on May 31 while transferring 13 injured civilians from the epicenter of the May 12 quake in the southwestern Sichuan Province. [Xinhua]

The bodies were driven in hearses to Chengdu from the epicenter town Yingxiu around 10:30 a.m. Friday.

At an airport of the military airforce command the crew belonged to,hundreds of soldiers, local residents and relatives of the crew paid three minutes of silent tribute to the bodies, each covered by the Chinese national flag.

The bodies were later driven to a local funeral parlor and were cremated there. The crew members were bestowed with the title of "martyears" by the Chengdu Military Area Command. A memorial ceremony for them would be held later this month, the military source said.

The bodies were recovered from a remote densely-covered forested mountainous area. They arrived in Yingxiu Town on Friday morning.

Tang Qiliang, deputy director of the political department of the Sichuan Military Area Command, said this morning rescuers were still trekking on foot, carrying the bodies of three police and 10 civilians.

Their bodies would be returned to their hometown of Lixian, Tang said.

The Mi-171 military transport helicopter crashed 7.5 kilometers from Yingxiu in the magnitude-8.0 earthquake on May 12. Searchers found the crash site on Tuesday after a 12-day search. The debris from the chopper was widely scattered over dense vegetation.

The helicopter was carrying injured civilians when it crashed deep in the mountains on May 31 on a return trip from quake-ravaged Lixian County to Chengdu.

Rain had forced the rescue team to delay their trek out of the crash site in the steep mountains for more than 24 hours before they were finally able to set off on Thursday afternoon.

More than 1,000 soldiers were dispatched to carry the bodies out of the region on foot.