Myanmar says aircraft crashed in it

[kyawkyaw@xxxxxxx]

Myanmar says aircraft crashed in its territory
01:34 a.m. Aug 28, 1998 Eastern 

By Aung Hla Tun 

                                 YANGON, Aug 28 (Reuters) - A Myanmar
Airways Fokker F-27 turboprop
                                 reported missing five days ago with 39
passengers aboard crashed in Myanmar,
                                 not in Laos as earlier stated, officials
of the Myanmar and Laotian governments
                                 said on Friday. 

                                 It was a new twist in the mystery
surrounding the fate of flight UB635, which went
                                 missing in the ``Golden Triangle''
opium-growing region on Monday. 

                                 Earlier this week, an official of the
airline said the plane had landed safely in Laos.
                                 On Thursday, a Myanmar government
spokesman said Laos had told them the
                                 aircraft had crashed there. 

                                 ``We now know the crash was on our side in
the Tachilek area,'' an official of the
                                 Myanmar Transport Ministry said. ``This
region is very mountainous and densely
                                 forested. The fate of those aboard is not
known yet.'' 

                                 He said an air and ground search was still
being carried out by air force and army
                                 personnel. 

                                 On Thursday, Japan's Kyodo news agency
quoted officials of the Myanmar and
                                 Laotian embassies in Bangkok as saying the
remains of 36 of the 39 people aboard
                                 the plane had been found. 

                                 Diplomats at the embassies said on Friday
they were unable to confirm the report.
                                 Officials in Yangon have said all those
aboard were Myanmar citizens. 

                                 The Fokker had been on a regular two-hour
domestic flight from Yangon to
                                 Tachilek, the main Myanmar town in the
Golden Triangle, which is formed where
                                 the borders of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand
converge. 

                                 Yangon's Ministry of Information has said
the Fokker had been unable to land at
                                 Tachilek due to poor weather and had flown
on to Heho in southeast Myanmar but
                                 then lost contact with ground control. 

                                 The airline has not provided a manifest
but an official of Myanmar Airways
                                 International in Bangkok said earlier this
week that most of those aboard were
                                 Myanmar military personnel. 

                                 ``This morning the Myanmar authorities
told us the plane is in Myanmar,'' said an
                                 official of the Laotian Foreign Ministry
in Vientiane. ``It is not in Laos. We have
                                 checked all the places mentioned but found
nothing.'' 

                                 A Myanmar diplomat in Vientiane said he
thought the confusion was due to wrong
                                 information from villagers living in the
area. 

                                 It was the second crash of a Myanmar
Airways F-27 this year. In January, 14
                                 people, including three foreigners, were
killed when a Myanmar Airways plane
                                 carrying about 45 people on a domestic
flight crashed near Thandwe, about 320
                                 km (200 miles) northwest of Yangon.