Chinese President Hu Jintao has extended his sincere condolences to the relatives of the passengers and crew members that died during an air crash in north China.

Early Sunday morning, a Bombardier CRJ-200 of the China Eastern Airlines crashed at the suburb of Baotou City, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, seconds after it took off for the eastern China metropolis Shanghai, killing 53 people aboard and one more on the ground.

Hu said he felt very grieved when hearing of the accident and expressed his deep and sincere condolences.

"The related authorities must appropriately handle the remaining problems, find out the causes of the accident and prevent further occurrence of similar accidents," said Hu, who is on visit abroad.

In order to organize and guide the accident rescue and investigation work, the State Council had sent a special team Sunday moon over to Baotou. The team members are from some seven central departments.

Premier Wen Jiabao, Vice-Premier Huang Ju and State Councilor Hua Jianmin have also given instructions requiring to promptly carry out the rescue and investigation work and urging the Inner Mongolia regional government to actively cooperate with the team.

Till the press time, the team has joined a local emergency handling group and started work at the accident site.