China prepares send-off for late Cambodia ex-king

A man takes a picture of himself while workers try to hang a portrait of former King Norodom Sihanouk on the facade of the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, as part of preparations for his funeral, Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2012. Officials expect at least 100,000 people to line the route from the Phnom Penh airport, where his body is expected to arrive Wednesday, to the Royal Palace, where it will lay in state during a week of official mourning. AP/Wong Maye-E

BEIJING  — Chinese police have escorted Cambodia’s former King Norodom Sihanouk’s body from a Beijing hospital to the airport for return to Phnom Penh.

Sihanouk died Monday at age 89 of a heart attack in Beijing, where he had been receiving medical treatment since January.

Beijing traffic authorities cleared several roads and a highway on Wednesday as a bus decorated with yellow flowers and apparently carrying Sihanouk’s body traveled to the airport with a few dozen black cars and minibuses.

Chinese state television carried live coverage of the procession while Chinese flags at Tiananmen Square and other key locations in the capital flew at half-staff.

In Cambodia, officials expect at least 100,000 people to line the route from the Phnom Penh airport to the Royal Palace.