Confused Handling of MY'n Plane Cra

[RANGOONP@xxxxxxx]

Confused handling of Myanmar plane crash sparks conspiracy theories
Mon 31 Aug 98 - 05:46 GMT
BANGKOK, Aug 31 (AFP) - A Myanmar passenger jet plunged into a mountainside,
killing
all on board. Or did it? And how many were on board anyway?
Analysts highlight the confusion over the apparent air disaster as another
example of spin
doctors from the isolated state at play, saying their handling of the saga was
either conspiratorial
or simply incompetent.
Officials confirmed only Saturday that the Myanmar Airways Fokker-27 had
crashed, five days
after it went missing in bad weather during a scheduled domestic flight. But
even that
announcement, carried in the official New Light of Myanmar daily, conceded
only that it was
"probable" there were no survivors and did not indicate how many had been on
board the
aircraft.
Airline officials had variously said there were 36 or 39 passengers and crew,
all of them
Myanmar nationals. Aviation sources in Yangon said most of the passengers were
military
officers and their families.
"It's really been a complete shambles," said one western diplomat in the
Myanmar capital.
"From the day it went missing until now they have failed to tell us what the
true situation is. God
help us if an international carrier comes down here with lots of people on
board."
Airline officials Monday said the flight from Yangon to the northeastern town
of Tachilek had
simply gone missing after being ordered to divert to another airport because
of poor visibility.
The pilot had been told to land at the Myanmar town of Heho or the northern
Thai city of
Chiang Mai, rather than Tachilek, in Shan state, within the "Golden Triangle"
opium-growing
area.
The officials claimed the following day that the plane had landed safely at an
airport in
neighbouring Laos and that all on board were safe. Then they said it had in
fact landed in a field
in Laos, but that everyone was safe.
A flurry of contradictory reports followed before confirmation came Friday,
from Thai military
officials who had helped search for the plane, that the aircraft had crashed
within Myanmar and
that all on board were dead.
The confusion has sparked a range of conspiracy theories, from it being an
attempted cover-up
to protect the already shaky reputation of Myanmar's carriers and shield its
fledgling tourism
industry, to talk of bombs and hijackings.
"I don't think many people really believe it was an attack of some kind," said
another foreign
diplomat in Yangon.
"But I could buy the cover-up theory. A crash certainly doesn't help the
reputation of the airline
or the country, as other countries have found out. But how could they
seriously believe they
could cover up the loss of a plane and all those people? It was pretty badly
bungled."
Other diplomats said the saga was more likely the result of disorganisation
and incompetence
on the part of some officials in an impoverished country whose bureaucracy is
not known for its
efficiency.
"Everything moves pretty slowly here, so it's not surprising they were so slow
in responding to a
plane crash," added one.
"Perhaps the airline really did believe it had landed in Laos, though you have
to wonder who
told them that originally. If it wasn't the pilot -- who obviously wasn't
speaking at that time --
then it should have been Lao officials, or maybe the Thais. But I don't think
they would just
make it up.
"Unless, of course, we are talking about two different planes -- one that
crashed and one that
didn't. Anything is possible in Burma."