AFRICA
Myanmar Plane Carrying 104 Passengers Disappears
On Wednesday, June 7, a military transport plane went missing during a flight from southern Myanmar to Yangon. The plane, with more than 100 persons on board, was lost during that Wednesday afternoon; there were 90 passengers and 14 crew members on the plane.
General Myat Min Oo describes the plane as a Chinese-made Y-8 turboprop aircraft—he says, “The military plane went missing and lost contact after it took off from Myeik, and now the military has started a sea and air search with naval ships and military aircraft and is preparing for rescue operations.”
Myeik, or Megui, is a city on the Andaman coast of southeast Myanmar. For the plane to have disappeared, it must have landed somewhere in the Andaman Sea—most of the plane’s route is above the body of water. Taking off from Myeik at 1:06 PM, contact was lost with the plane at 1:35 PM. The plane was last seen on the radar some 20 miles west of Dawei, Myanmar.
Having logged 809 flying hours, the Y-8 “is commonly used for transport, reconnaissance, and search and rescue. It has four propellers and is modeled on a Russian prototype.”
On Wednesday night, an announcement from the commander’s office noted that six naval ships and three aircraft were still searching for the missing plane. Search parties continue to look for the whereabouts of the flight and its desperate passengers.
Featured Image via 919th Special Operations Wing