Reuters-Myanmar Airways plane missi

[kyawkyaw@xxxxxxx]

Myanmar Airways plane missing with 39 pasengers 
                                 05:39 a.m. Aug 24, 1998 Eastern 

                                 YANGON, Aug 24 (Reuters) - A Myanmar
Airways Fokker F-27 turboprop aircraft
                                 was missing with about 39 passengers on
board on Monday after it failed to land at a
                                 provincial airport on the Myanmar-Thai
border, a Transport Ministry official said. 

                                 The official said the aircraft was on a
regular two-hour domestic flight from Yangon
                                 to the eastern border town of Tachilek,
where it was due to have landed at 0200
                                 GMT. 

                                 The official said: ``We're still trying to
find out what has happened to it.'' 

                                 He said most passengers of the missing
aircraft were Myanmar citizens but he had
                                 no other details. An official for Myanmar
Airways at Yangon airport confirmed the
                                 plane was missing but declined to give the
nationalities of passengers on board. 

                                 The official said the F-27 airplane was
normally has a four-member crew. 

                                 Thai civil aviation authorities said on
Monday they had been contacted by their
                                 Myanmar counterparts to be on alert for
any sign of the aircraft. 

                                 In January, at least seven people were
killed when a Myanmar Airways F-27
                                 carrying about 40 people on a domestic
flight crashed near Thandwe, about 320 km
                                 (200 miles) northwest of Rangoon.