Hong Kong journalists who tried to visit an area where a military plane reportedly crashed in southern China were expelled by shouting soldiers dressed in camouflage, a news report said yesterday.
The military plane exploded while airborne on Tuesday, the South China Morning Post reported on Wednesday, citing an unidentified witness. Chinese authorities have not confirmed the report. A man who answered the phone yesterday at the Xingning Military Airport in Guangdong declined comment and refused to give his name.
Hong Kong's Ming Pao Daily News reported that several Hong Kong reporters climbed two big mountains in Jiexi county, in China's southern Guangdong Province, to try to reach the alleged crash site but were discovered before they got there. As one tried to take photos, soldiers appeared suddenly, shouted, and shooed the journalists away, Ming Pao said.
A resident who identified himself as a village council member in Xiangyang village, about 2km away from the alleged crash site, told reporters that local police had cordoned off the area.
"Many people wanted to enter the site but they couldn't because police had sealed it," the man said. He would only give his surname, Yang.
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