Update | Debris found after Chinese-made Myanmar military plane with 122 aboard crashes in Andaman Sea
The former military junta bought many of the Chinese aircraft during their 50 years of isolated rule, when they were squeezed by Western sanctions
Debris from a missing Myanmar military plane carrying around 120 people was found in the Andaman Sea after it went missing Wednesday on a flight from southern Myanmar to Yangon.
“Now they have found pieces of the damaged plane in the sea 136 miles (218 km) away from Dawei city,” said Naing Lin Zaw, a tourism official in Myeik city, adding that the navy was still searching the sea.
The Chinese-made Y-8 turboprop aircraft was carrying about 108 passengers — mostly families of military personnel — and 14 crew members when it went missing.
He said it was raining at the time, but not heavily.
Four naval ships and two air force planes have been sent to search for the plane, which was flying at more than 18,000 feet when contact was lost.
Dawei is a port town an hour’s flight south of Yangon, Myanmar’s commercial capital.