Tail of Crashed Military Aircraft Found

By The Irrawaddy 16 June 2017

YANGON— After more than a week of search operations, part of the tail of a crashed Y-8 military aircraft was found in the sea on Thursday morning.

According to a Facebook statement issued by the Burma Army, plane debris was stuck in the net of a local fishing trawler that had joined the search along with other local fishers and Navy vessels. It was found seven and a half miles away from Dawei’s Myinkhwa Bay.

Military ships used sonar to confirm that there was debris underwater, some of it 35 meters below.

It turned out to be a piece of the tail from the Y-8-200F transport plane that went missing after it crashed into the Andaman Sea last week, with Flight No. 5820 emblazoned on it.

Only a plane wheel had been recovered prior, while the fuselage still remains missing.

The Y-8 plane was carrying 122 soldiers, family members and crew on a weekly flight from Tanintharyi Division’s Myeik to commercial capital Yangon. A total of 90 bodies have been recovered, so far.

Burma Army Chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing told reporters at a ceremony to accept donations for victims of the tragedy on Sunday at Naypyidaw Command that it is the most serious accident that the military has faced.

“I feel deeply sorry about this incident. [Such an accident] never happened in the history of the military. It is a serious loss. I never expected it, never dreamed this could happen. It makes me very sad,” he said.

The cause of the crashed plane is still unknown, although the military is cooperating in an investigation with the Chinese manufacturer of the plane.

The search for victims and debris continues.