Cremation of the victims of last week's deadly plane crash started Monday on the seventh day after the tragedy, which, according to Chinese tradition, marks the height of the mourning period, the Yichun city government said.

As of Monday noon, six of the 42 victims killed in the plane crash had been cremated in a funeral home in Yichun City, where the accident happened, said Hou Yingda, deputy mayor of the city.

A Brazilian-made Henan Airlines jet carrying 96 people crashed upon landing in Yichun, a remote mountainous city of the northeastern Heilongjiang Province, on Aug. 24, killing 42 of them. It is the deadliest air disaster in China since 2004.

However, it is so far unknown when the rest of the deceased will be cremated as some families opposed cremation until it was clear how much compensation would paid out, according to a press official with the Civil Aviation Administration of China, which, together with the Henan Airlines, mapped out the compensation plan.

According to him, the plan is currently being reviewed by a special taskforce set up by the State Council to investigate the plane crash and will be released very soon.

Yichun City had previously planned to suspend entertainment activities on Monday to mourn the victims but the decision was revoked late Sunday as the city said, without elaborating, it had made a new decision to alter the time and procedure of the mourning activities out of respect for the bereaved families.

(Xinhua News Agency August 31, 2010)