Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, May 21, 2003
Funeral Held for Submarine Accident Victims
A memorial service was held in Dalian, a port city in northeast China's Liaoning Province on Tuesday, to mark the death of 70 crew and officers aboard Submarine No. 361 of the Chinese Navy.
A memorial service was held in Dalian, a port city in northeast China's Liaoning Province on Tuesday, to mark the death of 70 crew and officers aboard Submarine No. 361 of the Chinese Navy.
On behalf of Jiang, Hu and the CMC, Guo Boxiong expressed deep condolences to the families of the crew. He urged mourners to turn their grief towards building a powerful navy, and further revolutionizing, modernizing and regularizing the armed forces.
The death of the 70 crew and officers in the submarine accident had brought misery to the families and represented a great loss for the navy, Guo said. The accident had caught the attention of the whole People's Liberation Army and all the people, he said.
He said the military and local government departments concerned had cooperated in dealing with difficulties the victims' relatives had encountered. He thanked family members for their understandingo f the situation.
Submarine No. 361 was a heroic military unit and had completed many major tasks over the years, Guo said.
"Their merits will be remembered in the hearts of the people of the motherland for ever."
At the funeral, Xu Caihou read the messages sent to the families of the accident victims by Jiang and Hu, dated May 2 and May 3 respectively.