YANGON // Pieces of a Myanmar military plane that went missing with more than 100 soldiers and family members aboard were found in the Andaman Sea late on Wednesday.
Navy ships and aircraft had been searching since the afternoon when the plane lost contact with air-traffic controllers.
More than a dozen children were believed to be among the passengers on the plane travelling from the southern city of Myeik to Yangon, an air force source said.
“Now they have found pieces of the damaged plane in the sea 136 miles (218 kilometres) away from Dawei city,” said Naing Lin Zaw, a tourism official in Myeik, adding that the navy was still searching the sea.
The air force source confirmed that a navy search and rescue ship had found pieces of the plane in the sea an hour’s flight south of Yangon, Myanmar’s commercial capital.
The commander in chief’s office said the plane lost contact at about 1.35pm off Myanmar’s southern coast.
There was conflicting information about the number of people on board.
Giving an updated figure, the commander in chief’s office said 106 passengers were on board – soldiers and family members – along with 14 crew.
Four naval ships and two air force planes were sent to search for the plane, which was flying at an altitude of more than 18,000 feet.
It is monsoon season in Myanmar but there were no reports of bad weather at the time the plane went missing.
The plane was a Y-8F-200 four-engine turboprop, a Chinese-made model still commonly used by Myanmar’s military for transporting cargo.
The army said it was delivered in March last year and had logged 809 flying hours.
The former military junta bought many of the aircraft from Myanmar’s giant neighbour during their 50 years of isolated rule, when they were squeezed by western sanctions.
A former executive at the aviation ministry said many of the aircraft in the military’s fleet were old and decrepit.
“Myanmar air force has very bad safety performance,” he said.
* Agence France-Presse
