Chinese President expresses condolences over death of Chinese police in Haiti quake

BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao on Sunday expressed deep condolences over the death of eight Chinese police officers who died in the Haiti quake and sent words of comfort to their family members.

Hu, also general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and chairman of the Central Military Commission, ordered the proper handling of issues arising from the police officers' deaths.

Other senior Chinese leaders including Wen Jiabao, Xi Jinping and Zhou Yongkang also gave instructions on the handling the issues.

Of the victims, four were officers of China's peacekeeping force in Haiti and the rest were in a team sent by the Ministry of Public Security of China to Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, for peacekeeping consultations.

The eight were meeting UN officials in the headquarters of the UN Stabilization Mission in Port-au-Prince when the quake struck at about 4:50 p.m. Tuesday local time.

The CPC Central Committee and State Council urged an all-out rescue for the eight after the quake hit. The bodies were found after 94 hours of search.