The bodies of three pilots were cremated on Monday, about three weeks after their plane crashed in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Their families each received about 1.4 million yuan (203,000 U.S. dollars) in compensation from the China Flying Dragon Special Aviation Company. It had leased the small plane to the region's land and resources administration for a geological survey mission, according to the company's party chief Li Changjun.

The eight-seat plane carrying three crewmen and an official with the Ministry of Land and Resources crashed into a hillside over a mining site in Chifeng City on June 15. It killed the pilots and critically injured the official who suffered serious head and chest injuries and was in stable condition in hospital.

Li said investigators were still trying to ascertain the cause of the accident.

(Xinhua News Agency July 8, 2008)