Myanmar military plane with 104 on board crashes (Lead)

Yangon June 7 (IANS) A Myanmar military aircraft with 104 people on board went missing on Wednesday and its wreckage was found on the sea off the country s Dawei township authorities reported.

The military said the tragedy may have occurred due to bad weather but this could be confirmed only after the black box was found Xinhua news agency reported.

The Air Force plane lost contact with the ground and went missing in the afternoon on its flight from the southern Tanintharyi region s Myeik to Yangon. The 104 on board included 90 members of soldiers families and 14 crew.

With a load of 2.4 tonnes the aircraft took off from Myeik air base at 1.06 p.m.

When it reached a height of 18 000 feet it lost contact with the ground at a location 32 km west of Dawei and went missing.

Two air force aircraft and four naval vessels searched for the missing plane and found the wreckage.

--IANS
soni-mr/