Wreckage of Missing Myanmar Military Plane Is Found<br />By JANE PERLEZ and WAI MOEJUNE 7, 2017<br />YANGON, Myanmar — Searchers found bodies and debris on Thursday from a military transport plane<br />that disappeared with 122 people on board shortly after taking off Wednesday afternoon from an air base in southern Myanmar, military officials said.<br />The navy and air force had mobilized ships and planes to search for the aircraft in the area near the base, about 350 miles<br />south of the country’s commercial capital, Yangon, the office of Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing said in a statement.<br />The death toll from the crash is likely to be the worst of any air disaster in Myanmar, a country that has a spotty air safety record.<br />Last year, a Beechcraft trainer plane for the air force crashed near the capital, Naypyidaw, killing five people.<br />The Chinese state-run company that sold the aircraft to Myanmar last year, China National Aero-Technology Import and Export, said in a statement on Thursday<br />that it would provide "full support" in an investigation into the crash.<br />"That is the primary reason for the downing of many older aircraft." The local news media quoted Myanmar’s Defense Ministry as saying<br />that in 2015, the air force had bought 29 airplanes and seven helicopters in the preceding four years, coinciding with an overall increase in military spending in Southeast Asia.
