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Myanmar Plane With 104 On Board Crashes

According to Myanmar officials, 90 passengers were air force servicemen and their family members while 14 were crew members.

Debris from a Myanmar military plane carrying 104 people on board was discovered in the Andaman Sea on Wednesday, AFP reports.

The plane was earlier declared missing before a navy search-and-rescue mission found pieces of the plane in the sea roughly 136 miles/218 kilometers away from Dawei.

"Communication was lost suddenly at about 1:35 pm (07:05 GMT) when it reached about 20 miles west of Dawei town," according to the office of military commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing.

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AFP reports that the rescue mission comprised four naval ships and two air force planes.

According to Myanmar officials, 90 passengers were air force servicemen and their family members while 14 were crew members.

While the cause of the crash has not been officially confirmed, an air force source disclosed to AFP that the plane likely had a technical problem, as there were no adverse weather conditions in the area where it crashed.

The Myanmar air force has had a poor safety record in recent years.

In February of last year, a similar incident occurred when an air force jet burst into flames after taking off from the capital Naypyidaw, killing all five crew members on board.

In June 2016, three military officers were killed when a military helicopter crashed into a hillside.

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