Chinese Media Tell Crash Story

One was a soccer coach who trained a future World Cup player. Another was a television executive returning to her hometown to start a new life after a divorce.

In a break with traditional secrecy about disasters, Chinese state media are putting a human face on the victims of a jetliner that crashed into the sea carrying 112 people.

All those aboard the China Northern Airlines flight died in the disaster Tuesday night near the northeastern port city of Dalian. Divers are searching debris-filled waters for the plane's flight recorders in the hope they will explain the cause.

The crash has received unusually thorough coverage by Chinese state media. They reported the disaster soon after it occurred and announced the names of victims — a contrast to the 1990s, when China often delayed reporting crashes and usually wouldn't say whether anyone died.

In an unprecedented step, the reports include brief, poignant accounts of the Dalian victims.

They included students returning from schools in Japan and Singapore, a doctor at Dalian's teaching hospital and the local representative of Hong Kong airline Dragonair, according to press reports.

Also killed was Yang Kunfeng, a soccer coach who had once trained goalkeeper An Qi of China's national team, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

An wept openly Wednesday at the team's training camp in southwestern China and, distracted by grief, sustained an injury to his arm, Xinhua said.

"He was very sad and couldn't concentrate in training," an unidentified team official was quoted as saying.

Also aboard were 10 members of the Transportation Ministry's marine freight division — co-workers of the officials now investigating the crash.

It was the second fatal accident for a Chinese airline within one month. An Air China plane slammed into a mountain April 15 near Busan, South Korea.

The back-to-back disasters left investigators "deeply saddened," said Yang Yuanyuan, deputy director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, the national air regulator.

Also killed was Jiang Lai, a former vice president of Beihai City Television in the southern city of Beihai, the newspaper Dalian Evening News said. After a recent divorce, Jiang was returning to her hometown of Dalian, where she was to begin a new job Wednesday.

"Dalian was where she was going to start her new life," Teng Yuxu, a prominent author of children's books who once was Jiang's teacher, was quoted as saying.

Searchers had found 70 bodies by Friday, said a rescue official who would give only his surname, Li. Also Friday, Vice Premier Wu Bangguo visited the crash site and comforted relatives in Dalian. He urged rescuers to "step up efforts to find bodies," Xinhua reported.

Bodies are reported to have been broken into pieces and few are identified.

Early reports said the pilot reported a fire on board the McDonnell Douglas MD-82 and cited witnesses who said the plane's lights were out. But Yang, the aviation official, said investigators hadn't found any direct evidence of a fire.

"We're going to learn from this tragic accident and strengthen further our safety efforts," Yang told China Central Television.

CCTV's noon broadcast Friday showed a large piece of the fuselage, including part of the cockpit, lying on the deck of a barge surrounded by debris.

Identification cards, combs and other personal belongings were shown, as well as the cabin log book and crew and pilot certificates.

The Dalian Evening News said it also lost one of its own.

Ju Hongqi, whose name means "Red Flag," was a propaganda officer with the Dalian coastal defense force. He had written essays for the newspaper on military life."Ju Hongqi, where are you?" the paper said in a headline.