Passengers held in Jeju start to return to China

The detained Chinese cruise, the Henna, is anchored at a coast off Jeju Island in the Republic of Korea, on Sept 14, 2013. [Photo/Xinhua]

SEOUL - Chinese passengers of the detained Henna cruise in Jeju, South Korea, started to return to China in batches on Sunday, according to the Chinese Consulate General in Jeju Island.

The first batch of around 280 passengers will departure from Jeju Island to China at 13:30 pm local time by plane of China Hainan Airlines, said Chen Junjie, consul of the Chinese Consulate General in Jeju Island.

Chen said China Hainan Airlines on Sunday would send four planes with a total of over 1,000 detained Chinese passengers to fly back to their home country. The rest of the passengers will leave for China by plane or ship as their own wish.

The cruise Henna, with 1,659 passengers and a crew of 650 on board, was scheduled to sail from Jeju to Incheon at 4:00 pm local time Friday. It was detained before departure by a Jeju court which received a seizure application on claims of legal disputes from a subsidiary company of Jiangsu Shagang Group Co, the cruise operator said Saturday.