Wreckage, bodies found after Myanmar plane crash
More than 120 people were on board the military plane when contact was lost on Wednesday morning. Ten bodies, six adults and four children, have been found.
A Y-8-200 F military aircraft of the type that crashed. (File photo from video)
Myanmar's military on Thursday said it has found the wreckage of a plane in the Andaman Sea that went missing with more than 120 people on board, including children.
Ten bodies, six adults and four children, were found about 35 km (22 miles) off the southern coastal town of Launglon by navy and civilian ships, the military said in its latest statement posted on its official Facebook page.
"We have found the plane and some dead bodies this morning about 8:25 am (0155 GMT)," a spokesman for the military's information team had earlier said.
The Chinese-made Y-8-200F transport plane vanished on early Wednesday afternoon after takeoff from the coastal town of Myeik on a weekly military flight.
The plane was heading north to Myanmar's largest city Yangon. On board were 14 crew and 108 soldiers and family members: 15 children, 58 adults and 35 soldiers and officers, according to a military statement.
The plane lost contact 29 minutes after takeoff while flying at 5,500 metres (18,000 ft) over the sea, about 70 kilometres (40 miles) west of the town of Dawei, the military said.
An aircraft wheel, two life jackets and some bags with clothes – believed to be from the missing plane – were found earlier.
Some patches of oil were spotted some 16 nautical miles (18 miles) from Dawei, the military said.
More than 40 ambulances and scores of medics and emergency staff were heading to the fishing town of Sanlan where boats carrying bodies were set to arrive around mid-day, said Hla Thein, a member of a hospital emergency team.
The search for any survivors is continuing.
It is monsoon season in Myanmar, but a civil aviation official said the weather had been "normal" with good visibility when the plane took off.
The aircraft was bought in March 2016 and had a total of 809 flying hours. It was carrying 2.4 tonnes of supplies, the military said.
Aircraft incidents, both civilian and military, are not uncommon in the southeast Asian country. A military helicopter crashed last June in central Myanmar, killing three military personnel on board.
Five military personnel were killed last February after an air force aircraft crashed in the country's capital, Naypyidaw, according to media reports.
Two people were killed and 11 injured after a small plane crashed in central Myanmar in 2012.
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