Twelve people were killed when a Myanmarlink militarylink planelink crashed in a central region of thecountry Thursday, a spokesman for the junta said.
The aircraft, carrying link six crew andeight passengers, left the capital Naypyidaw on Thursday morning for PyinOo Lwin, a town in the central region of Mandalay.
“It lost communications when it was 400 metres (1,300 feet) away from asteel factory near the airport,” in Mandalay, said junta spokesman Zaw MinTun in a statement that attributed the crash to “bad weather”.
A team was able to rescue two passengers, who have been sent to a nearbymilitary link hospital.
No other details on casualties link wereprovided, with Zaw Min Tun adding that emergency workers were still on thescene.
Separately, a senior police official told AFP that at least seven people –including two senior monks link — had diedin the crash.
“Another woman is in critical condition,” he said, speaking on condition ofanonymity.
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Before the February 1 coup, in which the militarylink ousted civilian leader Aung San SuuKyi from power, plane link crasheslink common in Myanmarlink due to its underdeveloped aviationsector.
Myanmar link Buddhist monkhood led anearlier struggle against military link rulebut is split on the coup that ended the country’s nascent democracy, withsome prominent religious leaders defending the new junta.
The military link has sought to quellmass protests with bloody crackdowns that have killed more than 800civilians, according to a local monitoring group.
This has prompted civilians in some townships to form “defence forces”,while some of Myanmar link ethnic rebelarmies have stepped offensives against the militarylink.
Last month, the Kachin Independence Army — an ethnic rebel group that haswaged a decades-long insurgency against the militarylink — downed an army helicopter duringfierce clashes. -APP/AFP
