An airliner crash-landed on a road this holiday weekend, killing at least two people and injuring at least 11 others.
An Air Bagan flight from Mandalay to Heho airport in Shan State, Burma was packed with holiday tourists when it crashed on a road in central Myanmar on Tuesday. There were 71 people on board, including 48 foreign passengers, according to the Associated Press.
According to The Information Ministry, among the dead were three Myanmar citizens which included a tour guide, an 11-year-old child, and a man who was riding his motorcycle on the road when the plane crashed. However another report said the airline only mentioned two casualties. They said an 11-year-old was not among the casualties.
Among the injured are tourists; two from America, a French national and someone from Taiwan. The injured were taken to a hospital in the nearby city of Taunggyi.
The landing was initially reported as an emergency landing but it was later learned that the plane hit electrical cables about a mile from the airport. The plane reportedly burst into flames just minutes after the passengers were evacuated.
However another report tells a different story. Authorities said the pilot thought the road was actually a runway as the weather was bad.
"While descending, the plane mistakenly landed ... due to fog beside the runway," a statement said, according to AP. The plane landed hard on the road and skidded to a nearby rice field where it stopped.
"The rear end of the plane broke and caught fire," the statement continued. The fire was under control about 45 minutes after it broke out.
There were reports of smoke filling the plane when it crashed. The aircraft continued to smoke four hours after the incident.
Witnesses said smoke filled the plane when it hit the ground and was still rising from the plane's badly charred wreckage hours later.
The plane that crashed was a 21-year-old Fokker 100 which is no longer produced.
"We deeply apologize to all our passengers and to their family members," the airline's managing director Htoo Thet Htwe said, according to AP. The passengers were given $2,300 after the incident.
"This is the most serious accident Air Bagan has ever had," he said.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
