Bodies and debris found in search for lost jet

A Myanmar Air Force plane is pictured at Dawei Airport yesterday, a day after a military plane crashed.

Bodies and aircraft debris were found in the sea off the southern coast of Myanmar yesterday by ships searching for a military plane that went missing with 122 soldiers, family members and crew on board.

Ten bodies, six adults and four children, were found about 35 kilometers off the southern coastal town of Launglon by navy and civilian ships, the military said in its latest statement posted on its official Facebook page.

The search by nine navy ships, five military planes and two helicopters, would continue with help from civilian boats, it said.

The Chinese-made Y-8-200F transport plane vanished on  June 7 after taking off from the coastal town of Myeik on a weekly flight to Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon.

The plane lost contact 29 minutes after takeoff while flying at 18,000 feet over the Andaman Sea, about 70 kilometers west of the town of Dawei, the military said.

An aircraft wheel, two life jackets and some bags with clothes - believed to be from the missing plane - were found earlier. 

Some patches of oil were spotted some 16 nautical miles from Dawei, the military said. 

More than 40 ambulances and scores of medics and emergency staff were heading to the fishing town of Sanlan where boats carrying bodies were set to arrive around mid-day, said Hla Thein, a member of a hospital emergency team.