Fifteen passengers have reportedly survived a plane crash after military aircraft carrying more than 100 people vanished over Myanmar.
Local media reported 120 servicemen and their families were aboard the flight from Myeik to Yangon when it disappeared on Wednesday afternoon.
Debris from the aircraft was found near Dawei following reports the plane had crashed.
Fifteen people are said to have survived. No information is known on their condition.
The plane went missing at 1.35pm local time (7:05am UK time) as it flew from Myeik to Yangon, the country’s army said.
A major search and rescue effort has been scrambled to search for the plane, which was 20 miles west of Dawei over the Andaman Sea when it lost communication and vanished.
Officials told AFP news agency that debris from the Chinese-built Shaanxi Y-8 aircraft had been recovered from the water following unconfirmed reports it had crashed.
There are conflicting reports on the number of passengers as aviation officials said 105 people were on the flight but a military spokesman later declared it was 120.
The passengers are believed to be servicemen based in the coastal region of Myeik in the southeast Asian nation and their relatives and children.
Freelance journalist Kayleigh Long, based in Myanmar, reported 90 “military personnel” were on the domestic flight.
Kyaw Kyaw Htey, a civil aviation official at Myeik airport, said: “The total number of people on the military plane is 105. We received this information from the airplane before departure.
“We don’t know what exactly happened to this plane after the loss of contact.”
He said the weather had been “normal” with good visibility when the plane took off.
According to local media, planes are used to fly military families based in remote locations to cities once a month.
The cause of the disappearance is not yet known but it is not understood to be weather related.
A source told the AFP news agency: “We think it was a technical failure. Weather is fine there.”
Last February, five people were killed when a military plane which crashed in the Myanmar capital Naypyidaw when it burst into flames soon after taking off.
Aviation travel is busy in the country, partly to make up for the country’s poor road and rail infrastructure.
Source – AFP