Fifteen severely injured, including children and a vice minister, were transferred to four key hospitals in Harbin, the provincial capital on Wednesday night.

Initial probes and survivors' accounts indicate the plane missed the runway and crashed on the ground, cracking the cabin and triggering a mild explosion.

No signs of sabotage have been found so far, investigators said.

The black boxes of the jet have been retrieved.

The Lindu airport of Yichun was closed down shortly while operations of the Henan Airlines were suspended.

The board of directors of Henan Airlines on Wednesday sacked the airline's general manager Li Qiang and appointed an acting manager to replace him.

Cao Bo, Li's replacement, served as the chief pilot of Shenzhen Airlines, the parent company of Henan Airliens.

Major Chinese carriers, including the China Eastern and China Southern, on Wednesday called upon emergency meetings to review the companies' safety measures.

AIRPORT SAFETY STANDARDS DEFENDED

Chinese local media on Wednesday started to question Lindu Airport's construction standards and its ability to accommodate flight landing during the night.

The airport, which started operation in August last year, covers 129 hectares of land in a thickly forested valley.

Its name -- Lindu -- literally means the "capital of woods".