=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SFGate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/news/archive/2004/05/18/i= nternational1029EDT0537.DTL --------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, May 18, 2004 (AP) Cargo plane crashes in China's northwest, killing at least seven AUDRA ANG, Associated Press Writer (05-18) 07:29 PDT BEIJING (AP) -- An Azerbaijani cargo plane crashed Tuesday in a forest after taking off from an airport in China's northwest, killing its seven-member crew and hurling debris over a one-square-mile area, the government said. The Ilyushin-76 jet, with a seven-member crew, went down about 6 miles from the Urumqi International Airport in the Xinjiang region, the Xinhua News Agency said. "Rescuers have found seven charred bodies of the crew of the Azerbaijani cargo plane," Xinhua said. "The plane was completely burned by a fire after the crash. Only debris was left." There were no reports of deaths or injuries among people on the ground. The plane was bound Tuesday morning from the central Chinese city of Taiyuan to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, with a stop in Urumqi, Xinhua said. It was on a charter flight and belonged to an Azerbaijani company, according to a spokeswoman for China's airline regulator, the Civil Aviation Administration of China. She would give only her surname, Zhong. The plane crashed in a forest west of the runway, Zhong said. State television showed the white-and-blue plane in a dusty field beside a row of traditional mud-brick houses. Emergency crews sprayed the aircraft with firefighting foam. Zhang Yuping, a farmer's wife, was at home doing chores when she heard a deafening explosion. "When I turned round and looked out of the back window, I was stunned to see a big plane rushing toward me," Xinhua quoted Zhang as saying. "I thought that was the end of my life." The plane crashed into cowsheds belonging to three farmers, Xinhua said, citing local police. It said the farmers' houses suffered "little damage." Police sealed off the area and were searching for the "black box" flight data and voice recorders, Xinhua said, citing local authorities. Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, is about 1,500 miles west of Beijing. Chinese airlines suffered a disastrous string of fatal crashes in the 1990s, prompting the government to invest heavily in new aircraft, pilot training, air traffic control systems and safety services. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2004 AP