Crash wreckage found

SEARCH SHIP: BODIES OF MAN, WOMAN, CHILD DISCOVERED IN ANDAMAN SEA

Plane with 122 people on board loses radio contact 30min after takeoff.

Myanmar’s military said yesterday it had found the wreckage of a plane in the Andaman Sea that went missing with about 120 people on board, along with several bodies.

A navy search ship scouring the waves found the bodies of a man, woman and child, as well as pieces of luggage, safety jackets and a tyre presumed to be from the aircraft’s wheel.

“We have found the plane and some dead bodies this morning,” said a spokesperson from the military’s information team.

The commander-in-chief’s office confirmed wreckage had been found off the coast of Launglon, in southern Myanmar, yesterday morning.

Nine navy ships and three air force planes were dispatched in a desperate search for the aircraft, which disappeared on Wednesday as it flew from the southern city of Myeik to Yangon, Myanmar’s commercial heart.

There was conflicting information on the number of people on board but in the latest update, the military said the plane was carrying a total of 122 people.

More than half of the passengers were from military families, including 15 children, along with 35 soldiers and 14 crew members, the army chief’s office said in a statement.

Some were travelling for medical check-ups or to attend school in Yangon.

Search and rescue efforts continued yesterday morning as relatives of the passengers braced for the worst.

Wai Lin Aung said his mother had been on the plane after visiting his sister.

“The whole family is very sad and we are waiting for news,” he said.

It is monsoon season in Myanmar but there were no reports of stormy weather in the area the plane lost contact with air traffic control on Wednesday, about half an hour after takeoff.

The pilot had more than 3 000 hours of flying experience. –