Fourteen people injured on Sunday when a fire fighting helicopter caught fire after landing in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, are out of critical condition, the regional government said on Monday.
The helicopter with four crew members, nine forestry police and a fire observer on board, caught fire at 5 p.m. just after it landed at the Mukui Forestry Center in the Greater Hinggan Mountains.
A seriously-injured member of the party was rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment. The others were sent to the Inner Mongolia Forestry General Hospital in Yakeshi City on Monday. They suffered burns and bruises.
The cause of the fire was still being investigated.
About 1,300 firefighters have been struggling to put out two fires in the Mukui forest. Another 320 forestry police were on their way to the sites, the government said.
Dry weather and high temperatures in recent days have caused fires at several sites in the Greater Hinggan Mountains area. Thousands of people have been commissioned to put out the fires.
(Xinhua News Agency April 22, 2008)