A military aircraft with 120 passengers and crew on board has gone missing off the coast of Myanmar.
The Chinese-made Y-8F-200 took off from the southern coastal town of Myeik at 1.06pm local time on Wednesday and was heading to Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon.
It was on a regular, weekly flight that takes in several coastal towns.
Those on board included 106 soldiers and family members and 14 crew, the military said.
Myanmar’s military said it lost contact while flying at 18,000ft over the Andaman Sea, 29 minutes after take off.
A statement on the Facebook page of military commander Senior General Min Aung Hlaing said the plane was believed to have been about 20 miles (32km) to the west of Dawei when it went missing.
Six navy ships and three military planes were mobilised to look for it, with the hunt continuing as darkness fell.
A civil aviation official at Myeik airport, Kyaw Kyaw Htey, said: “We don’t know what exactly happened to this plane after the loss of contact,” adding that the weather at take-off had been “normal”, with good visibility.
The plane, with a maximum capacity of 200, was bought in March 2016 and had 809 flying hours.
There were 2.4 tons of supplies on board, the military said.
__________
Follow us on Twitter at @thesignalng
Copyright 2017 SIGNAL. Permission to use portions of this article is granted provided appropriate credits are given to www.signalng.com and other relevant sources.
