Death toll in Myanmar plane crash rises to 15

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– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – YANGON, Jan 28 (AFP) – The death toll following the crash of a passenger plane at a Myanmar beach resort rose to 15 on Wednesday, officials said, as the authorities stood poised to launch a probe into the accident. Defence officials said a baby boy had also died when the Myanmar Airways passenger flight slewed off the runway at Thandwe, northwest of here, Tuesday and burst into flames, raising the toll from 14. It was unclear whether the latest victim was one of the 11 who died instantly or one of four who died later in hospital, officials said. Three foreigners were among the dead after one of the engines of the Fokker F-27 passenger plane failed during take-off, causing it to spin out of control at Thandwe airport northwest of here, officials said. The dead foreigners included two French nationals and an Italian man, but their identities were not immediately avaliable and it was unclear whether they were tourists or business travellers. A further 20 of the 45 people on board were injured, including another French national and the flight attendant, according to sources and reports in the official media. "As the aircraft was going down the runway, but before it had reached lift-off speed, one engine appears to have stalled," an aviation source told AFP. "When that happened the propulsion of the working engine caused the plane to veer to one side at high speed and it then spun off the tarmac into mound of earth beside the runway," he said. A fire then broke out and the aircraft — schdeuled to make a 20 minute flight to the town of Kyaukpyu — burst into flames, sources said. The source said that while mechanical failure appeared to be the cause of the accident, the pilot had failed to bring the sliding aircraft under control quickly enough. The airliner, on the penultimate leg of a scheduled city-hopping flight from Yangon (Rangoon) up the country’s northwestern coast, was carrying 41 passengers and four crew. Among the dead Myanmar citizens was a steward on his first flight with the state-owned domestic carrier after completing his training course. An official had Tuesday incorrectly identified the dead crewman as the co-pilot. The twin-engined F-27 was one of seven propeller planes owned by the carrier for flights within Myanmar (Burma). Myanmar Airways also operates three Fokker 28 jets. The airline is likely to be hard-hit by the crash, and the pilot — who had been involved in other in-flight incidents — will likely be grounded for up to six months while an investigation is carried out, aviation sources said. It was not immediately known whether the investigation had already begun at Thandew in northwestern Arakan state. The carrier suffers a severe shortage of pilots, especially for its fleet of F-27 "work horses," they added. The offciials press in this military-run state carried detailed reports of the crash and fatalities in its Wednesday editions. -=-=- Want to tell us what you think about the ClariNews? Please feel

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YANGON, Jan 28 (AFP) – The death toll following the crash of a passenger plane at a Myanmar beach resort rose to 15 on Wednesday, officials said, as the authorities stood poised to launch a probe into the accident. Defence officials said a baby boy had also died when the Myanmar Airways passenger flight slewed off the runway at Thandwe, northwest of here, Tuesday and burst into flames, raising the toll from 14. It was unclear whether the latest victim was one of the 11 who died instantly or one of four who died later in hospital, officials said. Three foreigners were among the dead after one of the engines of the Fokker F-27 passenger plane failed during take-off, causing it to spin out of control at Thandwe airport northwest of here, officials said. The dead foreigners included two French nationals and an Italian man, but their identities were not immediately avaliable and it was unclear whether they were tourists or business travellers. A further 20 of the 45 people on board were injured, including another French national and the flight attendant, according to sources and reports in the official media. "As the aircraft was going down the runway, but before it had reached lift-off speed, one engine appears to have stalled," an aviation source told AFP. "When that happened the propulsion of the working engine caused the plane to veer to one side at high speed and it then spun off the tarmac into mound of earth beside the runway," he said. A fire then broke out and the aircraft — schdeuled to make a 20 minute flight to the town of Kyaukpyu — burst into flames, sources said. The source said that while mechanical failure appeared to be the cause of the accident, the pilot had failed to bring the sliding aircraft under control quickly enough. The airliner, on the penultimate leg of a scheduled city-hopping flight from Yangon (Rangoon) up the country’s northwestern coast, was carrying 41 passengers and four crew. Among the dead Myanmar citizens was a steward on his first flight with the state-owned domestic carrier after completing his training course. An official had Tuesday incorrectly identified the dead crewman as the co-pilot. The twin-engined F-27 was one of seven propeller planes owned by the carrier for flights within Myanmar (Burma). Myanmar Airways also operates three Fokker 28 jets. The airline is likely to be hard-hit by the crash, and the pilot — who had been involved in other in-flight incidents — will likely be grounded for up to six months while an investigation is carried out, aviation sources said. It was not immediately known whether the investigation had already begun at Thandew in northwestern Arakan state. The carrier suffers a severe shortage of pilots, especially for its fleet of F-27 "work horses," they added. The offciials press in this military-run state carried detailed reports of the crash and fatalities in its Wednesday editions. -=-=- Want to tell us what you think about the ClariNews? Please feel

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