Twenty-one adults and eight children were among the
bodies found in the Andaman Sea near the coastal town of Launglon by navy and
civilian ships, the military said on its official page on social media site
Facebook.
"I only want to cry, I have nothing," said a
shaky-voiced Yuzana, 19, whose parents and younger brother were on the aircraft
when it went missing on Wednesday.
The weekly flight, from several coastal towns to
Myanmar's largest city of Yangon, had been carrying the three to a planned
reunion after a two-year-long separation.
"My father said he bought a mobile phone for me. My
mom bought a bag for my school," Yuzana, who uses one name, told Reuters
by telephone.
Scores of rescue workers in the fishing village of
Sanlan, about 600 km (372 miles) from Yangon, braved stormy weather to carry
ashore the dead, wrapped in plastic, from a military ship.
Many bodies had fragmented into several pieces and no
victim wearing a life jacket has yet been recovered, said Hla Thein, one of
those directly involved in the rescue.
More than a dozen relatives of those on board the
aircraft gathered at a crisis center in an army base in the southern coastal
town of Myeik, some weeping, pictures released by the military showed.
Nine navy ships, five military planes and two
helicopters, will keep up the search for survivors for a second day, assisted
by civilian boats, the military said.
The Chinese-made Y-8-200F transport plane lost contact 29
minutes after takeoff while flying at 18,000 feet (5,485 meters) over the
Andaman Sea, about 43 miles (70 km) west of the town of Dawei, the military
said.
An aircraft wheel, two life jackets and some bags with
clothes - believed to be from the missing plane - were found earlier.
Some patches of oil were spotted some 16 nautical miles
(18 miles) from Dawei, the military said.
The cause of the incident has yet to be confirmed.
But survivors are "very unlikely" more than 24
hours after the plane lost contact, despite warm sea temperatures in the area,
said Charitha Pattiaratchi, a coastal oceanography expert at the University of
Western Australia.
Myanmar authorities might soon change their focus from
rescue to salvage, aiming to collect debris and investigate the cause of the
accident, he added.
The plane was carrying 122 passengers, 108 of these made
up of soldiers and their family members, besides 14 crew. Among the 108 were 15
children, 58 adults and 35 soldiers.
The military said the plane was operated by
"seasoned pilot" Lieutenant Colonel Nyein Chan with 3,162 flying
hours, two co-pilots and a flight engineer.
All military personnel on board are low- to mid-ranking
officers, a passenger list released by the military shows.
It is the rainy season in Myanmar but a civil aviation
official said the weather had been "normal" with good visibility when
the plane took off.
The aircraft, bought in March 2016, had a total of 809
flying hours. It was carrying 2.4 tons of supplies, the military said.
Nicknamed the "air camel" in Chinese, the
multi-purpose aircraft was approved for production in 1980 and is still being
produced by Shaanxi Aircraft Corporation, a unit of state-owned Aviation
Industry Corp of China. The four-spoke turboprop is used in developing
countries, including China and Sudan.
If all 122 on board were killed, the incident could be
the deadliest involving the Chinese model, said Chen Xiao, an editor at
Beijing-based Aerospace Knowledge magazine.
Aircraft accidents, involving both civilian and military
planes, are not uncommon in Myanmar.
A military helicopter crashed last June in central
Myanmar, killing three military personnel on board. Five military were killed
in February last year when an air force aircraft crashed in the capital,
Naypyitaw, media reported.
"Whether it's military or commercial aviation, it
requires a major overhaul in terms of infrastructure, fleet, training,
technology and equipment," said Shukor Yusof, an aviation expert and
founder of Malaysia-based consultancy Endau Analytics. (Reuters)