The bodies of eight Chinese police officers are on their way back to China. They died when a UN building in Haiti collapsed during last week's earthquake. A chartered plane carrying the bodies is scheduled to arrive in Beijing on Tuesday.

 

At the airport of Port-au-Prince, the rescue team and members of China's UN peacekeeping force in Haiti paid a final tribute to their compatriots who were killed in the deadly earthquake.

The Chinese plane, carrying the bodies of the eight police officers, left Sunday night and is expected to arrive in Beijing Tuesday morning.

The first body was found early Friday morning, after more than 80 hours of searching.

The other seven were retrieved later in joint efforts between the Chinese and several foreign rescue teams.

Rescuers at the site held a simple mourning ceremony for the eight victims.

The Ministry of Public Security's website has been displayed in black to mourn and pay respects.

Wu Heping, spokesman of Ministry of Public Security, said, "A mourning hall has been set up in the Ministry of Public Security, to honor those who perished. We have also set up Internet sites where people can send their condolences. In losing them, we feel aggrieved."

Among the victims were Zhu Xiaoping, the director of the ministry's equipment and finance department.

Guo Baoshan, deputy director of the ministry's international cooperation department.

Wang Shulin and Li Xiaoming, both researchers at the ministry.

The rest of the victims were officers in China's peacekeeping force in Haiti.

They were Zhao Huayu, who worked for the ministry in Beijing and was a volunteer at a Haitian orphanage.

Li Qin, a veteran police officer from southwest China's Yunnan Province.

Zhong Jianqin, a press officer, who never got a chance to see his newly born daughter.

And He Zhihong, the team's translator and mother of a one-year-old.

They were meeting with UN officials in the headquarters of the UN Stabilization Mission in Port-au-Prince when the quake struck.