Myanmar plane, on mission to fly back soldiers, crashes in Mizoram

Eight crew members were injured after a Myanmar Air Force aircraft skidded off the Lengpui airport in Mizoram's capital Aizawl on Tuesday. The aircraft had come to Lengpui airport to transport back 92 Myanmar soldiers, which would have been done through several sorties. Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has ordered a probe into the accident. After the accident, all Lengpui airport-bound flights were either cancelled or diverted.

Officials said of the 14 who were on board the aircraft, along with the pilot, eight were injured while six were safe. The injured were immediately rushed to Lengpui hospital.

According to officials, 184 of the 276 Myanmarese soldiers, who fled to Mizoram's Lawngtlai district on January 17 after their camps were captured by armed pro-democracy Arakan Army militant groups, were flown back on a Myanmar military aircraft on Monday.



An official said, "A Myanmar Air Force transport plane from Mandalay (Myanmar) landed at Lengpui airport on Monday and evacuated 184 Myanmar soldiers to Sittwe (Akyab) in two sorties." The remaining 92 Myanmar soldiers were supposed to be airlifted on Tuesday.

The number of soldiers who fled Myanmar since November 13 last year and reached Mizoram is around 636. The Myanmar soldiers, with their arms and ammunition, reached Bandukbanga village on the Mizoram-Myanmar-Bangladesh border trijunction in Lawngtlai, and were taken to Assam Rifles' Parva camp in the district, the official said.

Mizoram chief minister Lalduhoma had said on January 19, "People are fleeing from Myanmar to our state for shelter and we are providing the same. Soldiers of Myanmar keep coming seeking shelter, we send them back by air. Around 450 army personnel were sent back. Around 276 Myanmar Army personnel, who took refuge in Mizoram's Lawngtlai District after their camps were captured by the Arakan Army (AA) militants, would be repatriated soon."