Myanmar army plane with 105 on board missing after losing communication

A Myanmar army aircraft with 105 people on board went missing on Wednesday on a flight from a southern town to the city of Yangon, the military and civil aviation officials said.

The Chinese-made Y-8 transport plane left the coastal town of Myeik at 1:06 p.m (0636 GMT) heading north to Myanmar's largest city of Yangon.

It lost contact while flying over the Andaman sea, about 20 miles (32 km) west of the town of Dawei, the military and civil aviation officials said.

"The total number of people on the military plane is 105. We received this information from the airplane before departure," said Kyaw Kyaw Htey, a civil aviation official at Myeik airport.

"We don't know what exactly happened to this plane after the loss of contact."

He said the weather had been "normal" with good visibility when the plane took off.

The military has mobilised the air force and navy to search for the aircraft.