BBC-Burmese missing plane found cra

[hlaing@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Thursday, August 27, 1998 Published at 11:08 GMT 12:08 UK 

Burmese missing plane found crashed 

The authorities in Burma say one of its aircraft which went missing four
days ago has been found crashed in Laos. 

A government official said the aircraft -- a fokker F-27 -- came down on
Payakha mountain in northern Laos. 

He said the fate of at least thirty passengers and crew was unknown. 

The crew complained of poor weather conditions shortly before the aircraft
went missing. 

A search and rescue operation has been launched by the Thai and Laotion
authorites. 

The managing director of the Burmese airline Tim Hlaing Hmee said an
airline official who earlier said the plane had landed safely in Laos was
not authorised to make that statement. 



>From the newsroom of the BBC World Service