AT least 42 people were killed after a plane carrying more than 90 passengers overshot the runway and crashed in the northeast Chinese city of Yichun, state television reported last night.

Forty-nine people were rescued, the China Central Television said.

The E-190 plane, traveling from Harbin, the provincial capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, crashed at around 9:36pm yesterday.

The scheduled landing time was 9:40pm, according to airport officials.

The state television said flight VD8387 with 96 on board crashed while landing at the airport in Yichun. The fate of the remaining passengers was unclear.

Of the 91 passengers, five were children, according to the website of the China Administration of Civil Aviation.

The plane was about 1.5 kilometers from the runway of the Lindu Airport when it broke into two halves, throwing some passengers out of the cabin, and caught fire before blowing up, officials of the Yichun city told reporters.

There was little chance any of those passengers ejected could survive, China News Service said, citing Yichun officials.

Xinhua news agency said the Henan Airlines plane overshot the runway and burst into flames. It said more than 20 people had been hospitalized. Wang Xuemei, vice mayor of Yichun, told CCTV that three of the hospitalized were in critical condition but gave no specifics.

CCTV quoted Sun Bangnan, deputydirector of the Heilonjiang Public Security Department, as saying 49 people had been rescued and that the fire had been put out.

Yichun is in the heart of the Lesser Hinggan Mountains. With 4 million hectares of forests, the city is covered by trees over 83 percent of its land area.

Henan Airlines is based in Zhengzhou, capital of the central Chinese province of the same name, and flies smaller regional jets, mainly on routes in north and northeast China. Previously known as Kunpeng Airlines, the carrier was relaunched as Henan Airlines earlier this year.

Henan Airlines and many other regional Chinese airlines have struggled in the past few years.

• province [´prɔvins] n.省；领域；范围 (初中英语单词)
• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• flight [flait] n.逃走；飞行；班机 (初中英语单词)
• administration [əd,minis´treiʃən] n.管理(事务等)；经营 (初中英语单词)
• survive [sə´vaiv] vt.幸存；残存 (初中英语单词)
• agency [´eidʒənsi] n.代理商；机构；代理 (初中英语单词)
• director [di´rektə] n.指导者；....长；导演 (初中英语单词)
• security [si´kjuəriti] n.安全；证券；抵押品 (初中英语单词)
• mainly [´meinli] ad.主要地；大体上 (初中英语单词)
• northeast [,nɔ:θ´i:st] n.东北 a.东北的 (高中英语单词)
• critical [´kritikəl] a.批评的；关键性的 (高中英语单词)
• deputy [´depjuti] n.代理人；代表 (高中英语单词)
• saying [´seiŋ, ´sei-iŋ] n.言语；言论；格言 (高中英语单词)
• previously [´pri:viəsli] ad.预先；以前 (高中英语单词)
• carrier [´kæriə] n.搬运工人；托架 (高中英语单词)
• provincial [prə´vinʃəl] a.省的 n.外省人 (英语四级单词)
• aviation [,eivi´eiʃən] n.飞行(术)；航空(学) (英语四级单词)
• lesser [´lesə] a.较小的；次要的 (英语四级单词)
• landing [´lændiŋ] n.登陆；降落；楼梯平台 (英语六级单词)