Bodies recovered after plane crash

Fishermen have joined navy and air force personnel in recovering bodies and aircraft parts from the sea off Burma, where a military plane carrying 122 people crashed a day earlier.

The four-engine Chinesemade Y-8 turboprop aircraft had left Myeik, also known as Mergui, heading for Yangon on a route over the Andaman Sea.

It was raining, but not heavily, when contact was lost with the craft at 1:35pm local time on Wednesday. At that time, it was south-west of the city of Dawei, formerly known as Tavoy.

By nightfall on Thursday, the bodies of 31 people – 21 women, eight children and two men had been recovered, said military spokesman General Myat Min Oo. All of the bodies were taken to a military hospital in Dawei, which was visited by some of the victims’ relatives.

One of them, Ma Mon, said her 32-year-old daughter Zin Wai Aung had been married to a military officer but had gone on the flight without him.

“She went on the plane with her three-month-old son. Both of them died,” she said. “That was my beautiful grandson.”