Caskets of fallen Chinese officers flown home
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Escorted by their fellow comrades, coffins bearing the remains of Chinese police officers killed in Haiti's apocalyptic earthquake embarked on their homeward journey early Sunday at Port-au-Prince airport.
Among those eight heroes whose lives were claimed, six of them arrived in Haiti as peacekeepers only four days before the most destructive earthquake of the past two centuries in Haiti's history destroyed their offices inside the headquarters of the UN Stabilization Mission in Port-au-Prince.
Since the arrival of the Chinese rescue team on Thursday, rescuers raced against time to find their comrades buried underneath the debris of the former UN headquarters in Haiti, working past exhaustion and yet exceptionally determined.
It is said the first 72 hours after an earthquake are the most critical in terms of saving lives. However, as the clock keeps ticking relentlessly, chances of finding them alive were fast fading.
The first body was found on Jan. 16 at 4:30 p.m. Beijing time, while the remaining seven were found and retrieved by Jan. 17, 3:56 a.m.
Upon the discovery of their comrades' remains, tears of sorrow started to run down the cheeks of the Chinese rescuers. As soon as a body was recovered, they would stand in silence and pay their respect.
Right there at the rescue scene, a rescue team member held up a sign reading "My Comrades, let's go home!"
At the camp where Chinese police officers in Haiti are stationed, teams had already been lined up in utter silence, waiting, expecting their lost comrades to come back.
"Salute!" a Chinese police officer ordered.
The shout shattered the silent camp as the motorcade escorting the casket of Li Qin, aged 47, entered the camp gate on Saturday.
Tears welled up in many of the officers' eyes. They trembled as they tried to check their indescribable distress. Others burst into tears when they saw the vehicles carrying their fellow comrades driving past them.
Homeward journey
It was 7:30 a.m. Sunday.
In the camp, the national flag of China and the UN flag were flown at half-mast. It was the moment to bid farewell to the lost heroes.
As the caskets of the fallen officers were placed separately onto two trucks, a simple yet solemn ceremony was held.
In a eulogy, Liu Zhiqiang, director of the International Cooperation Department of China's Ministry of Public Security, honored his lost comrades as "outstanding officers" and "guardians of world peace."
At the Port-au-Prince airport, a chartered plane was waiting to bring them back home.
Once the caskets were brought onboard and the cargo door locked, the engines started to roar, in preparation for take-off.
Facing the plane taxiing on the tarmac, three female Chinese police officers gave a final salute to their homebound comrades, whose spirits and tasks endure.
