Reuters-All 39 On Crashed Myanmar P

[hlaing@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

All 39 On Crashed Myanmar Plane Feared Dead 
08:25 a.m. Aug 28, 1998 Eastern 

By Aung Hla Tun 

YANGON (Reuters) - All 39 people on a Myanmar Airways Fokker F-27 turboprop
that crashed five days ago in eastern Burma are presumed to have died, a
government official said Friday. 

``We have sighted the crash site from the air. Thirty-nine people are
believed to have been on board and all are presumed to have died,'' said
the official, who did not want to be identified. 

Earlier, a Transport Ministry official said the aircraft, on domestic
flight UB635, crashed in eastern Myanmar near the town Tachilek, not in
neighboring Laos as was stated Thursday. 

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

The Ministry of Information has said the Fokker had been unable to land at
Tachilek, which is about 550 km (340 miles) northeast of Yangon, due to
poor weather. It had flown on to Heho in southeast Myanmar but then lost
contact with ground control. 

Officials have since given conflicting reports. Earlier this week, a
Myanmar Airways official said the plane had landed safely in Laos. On
Thursday, a Myanmar government spokesman said Laos had told Yangon the
aircraft had crashed there. 

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

The government official said the 39 people on board included passengers and
crew. 

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. 

The Transport Ministry official said the area where the plane came down is
mountainous and forested. He said an air and ground search was still being
carried out by military 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 Friday they were unable to confirm the
report. 

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.