Death Toll Rises to 51 in Chinese Airliner Crash
The death toll from the crash of a Chinese airliner rose to 51 on Friday, with state media saying seven people on the ground were killed when the plane, which was carrying more people than previously thought, came down.
The seven brick-factory workers killed were installing generators on a boat that was struck by the plane when it went down Thursday, the official New China News Agency said.
Fisherman Xu Mingtao, who had been helping the workers, escaped injury because he had left before the accident, the report said. The workers were missing when he returned, prompting him to call emergency services, the report said.
Initially, state media said the Wuhan Airlines flight was carrying 38 passengers and four crew members when it crashed near the Han River in a suburb of Wuhan, the capital of central Hubei province.
But state-run television said the plane was also carrying two people who had not registered, raising to 44 the number of deaths aboard.
The news agency said the domestically built Yunshuji-7 was descending for landing when it was struck by lightning and exploded.
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