The bodies of three Chinese victims of a car bomb attack in south-west Pakistan were repatriated Friday by plane with the Pakistani communications minister accompanying the coffins, state press reported.
A handover and mourning ceremony was held at Tianjin international airport, east of Beijing, and government officials from both sides expressed their condolences and sympathy to the victims' families, Xinhua news agency said.
China's minister of communications Zhang Chunxian said the three victims were "heroes" who sacrificed their lives for China-Pakistan friendship, Xinhua reported.
The Pakistan air force plane earlier left the southern port city of Karachi after a police guard of honour for the engineers killed in Monday's car bombing in the coastal town of Gwadar, 450 kilometres (280 miles) west of Karachi.
Nine injured Chinese engineers received intensive medical treatment in Pakistan, Xinhua said, adding four of them returned to China Friday for further treatment and the rest were still in Pakistan.
Hundreds of Chinese workers are engaged on a deep seaport in Gwadar on the Arabian Sea coast.
"The Gwadar Port is an essential project for the friendly co-operation between China and Pakistan and will not be interrupted by this incident," Zhang said in Tianjin.
"We are ready to make joint efforts with the Pakistani side to safeguard the smooth proceeding of the project," he said.
Pakistani Communications Minister Babar Ghouri told AFP in Karachi before boarding the flight: "The incident has shocked our entire nation given the longstanding friendly relations between the two countries.
"We appreciate our Chinese friends' faith in us and we assure them of complete security cover in future," Ghouri said.
Police have detained some 16 suspects in connection with the attack and said investigations were continuing.
Hundreds of Chinese workers at the Arabian Sea port project resumed operations on Thursday after three days' mourning.
Monday's attack was the first against Chinese nationals in Pakistan, which has seen a spate of deadly terrorist attacks against foreigners.
China, Pakistan's strongest and oldest ally, is financing 199 million dollars of the 248-million-dollar port project.