A navy ship searching for a missing military plane has found three dead bodies off Myanmar's southern coast, officials said Thursday.
A military transport plane carrying 122 soldiers, their families and crew including 15 children went missing on Wednesday evening after it lost contact during the flight from the southern town of Myeik in Tanintharyi region to Myanmar's largest city, Yangon.
The Office of Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing said in a statement that bodies of a man, a woman and a child were found in the Andaman Sea on Thursday morning at around 8 a.m. local time (0130GMT).
Search and rescue teams also found a tire, which is believed to be from the missing airplane, and two life jackets, the statement said, adding four navy ships and three military aircrafts were involved in the search and rescue operation.
A military source had confirmed Wednesday evening that some parts of the aircraft were found near Shin Maw beach in Myeik.
"So the plane is believed to have crashed into sea," an officer at the Military Southern Command told Anadolu Agency at around 8.00 p.m. local time (1330GMT) on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media.
The Chinese-made cargo plane (Y-8-200-F) had been in service since March 2016, with 809 flying hours on its clock, according to the website of army-run Myawaddy newspaper.
