Japan gov't plane leaves N.Z., no kin of quake victims aboard

TOKYO, March 2 Kyodo - A Japanese government plane sent to New Zealand left for home Wednesday, but family members of the Japanese affected by the earthquake there who are now in the quake-hit area are not aboard the plane as initially planned.
The government plane was used to transport a Japanese disaster relief team to help in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in Christchurch last week.
A government source said the original plan for the kin of the victims to return to Japan via the government plane was canceled because they could not afford to have all of them aboard.
About half of the 72 family members who are in Christchurch will depart for Japan later in the week aboard commercial flights, Japanese officials said.
Sixty-five members of the disaster relief team are scheduled to return home Thursday morning aboard the government plane.
They will be replaced by a second, smaller disaster-relief team comprising 32 people such as policemen, firefighters, Japan Coast Guard officials and medical workers, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
State Foreign Secretary Takeaki Matsumoto has also been dispatched to Christchurch to assist the families of Japanese quake victims and work as a liaison between local authorities and the Japanese.
A total of 28 Japanese remain unaccounted for following the magnitude 6.3 quake of Feb. 22.