Myanmar found bodies and aircraft debris at sea

Myanmar military said rescue forces have found missing bodies and military aircraft fragments.

"We found the plane and some bodies at 8:25 this morning," AFP quoted a Myanmar military spokesman as saying.

An Y-8 aircraft of the Myanmar army.(Photo: Wikipedia).

According to a statement from the Myanmar military, a naval ship found three bodies, including a man, a woman and a child, about 35 km from Launglon town, southern Myanmar. They also found a wheel, suspected by a Chinese-made Y-8F-200 transport aircraft, life vests and luggage.

Myanmar's Y-8F-200 transport aircraft was missing yesterday while flying from the coastal town of Myeik north to Yangon. It lost contact 29 minutes after takeoff, at a height of more than 5,480 m, about 70 km west of Dawei town.

According to the Myanmar army, the plane crashed carried a total of 122 people. More than half of the passengers are families of soldiers, including 15 children, 35 soldiers and 14 crew members.

The captain was identified as Lieutenant Colonel Nyein Chan, with more than 3,000 flight hours. The plane was bought by Myanmar in March 2016 and flew a total of 809 hours.

Myanmar has 9 naval ships, 5 military aircraft and three helicopters participating in the search for missing aircraft. Myanmar is in the rainy season but there seems to be no bad weather at the time of the plane's disappearance.

1. Military aircraft carrying 122 missing people in Myanmar