Netherlands seeks repatriation of balloon crash bodies

The consul-general of the Netherlands in Guangzhou said Thursday he hoped the Chinese government would establish the cause of a balloon crash that killed two Dutch couples Wednesday and send back the bodies home as soon as possible.

The consulate in the southern city of Guangzhou sent the deputy consul-general and a Chinese staff member to Guilin City in the neighbouring Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region right after the accident, the consul-general Antonius L.M. Van Zeeland told Xinhua Thursday.

A qualified company operated the balloon and the accident was likely to be related to the weather, he said.

The hot-air balloon caught fire and crashed in Guilin, a popular tourist destination in south China Wednesday morning, killing two Dutch men and two women. Two Chinese pilots and a Dutch tourist were injured, but not seriously, according to the police.

Van Zeeland expected the Chinese government to have a detailed written document of the cause of the accident and to send the bodies to the Netherlands as soon as possible.

The first task of the Netherlands government was to console the next of kin and keep them informed, but foul play could be excluded, he said.

"According to the Dutch logic, sitting in a hot-air balloon is a risky thing," he said.

Van Zeeland also criticized Chinese police for disclosed the four victims' names to the media Wednesday, claiming they failed to respect the privacy of family members.

The four bodies were in the Guilin Municipal Morgue.

Source: Xinhua