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Deadly Crash of Myanmar Military Jet Blamed on Bad Weather


Rescue personnel carry bodies recovered by fishing vessels in the waters off San Hlan village, in Laung Lone township, southern Myanmar, June 8, 2017.
Rescue personnel carry bodies recovered by fishing vessels in the waters off San Hlan village, in Laung Lone township, southern Myanmar, June 8, 2017.

Investigators in Myanmar have concluded that bad weather caused last month's crash of a military plane that killed all 122 people on board.

The Chinese-built Shaanxi Y-8-200F transport plane disappeared from radar screens June 7 during a routine flight from the southeastern city of Myeik, also known as Mergui, to Yangon, Myanmar's largest city. Naval and air search and rescue crews found debris from the plane floating in the Andaman Sea in the days after its disappearance, along with dozens of bodies.

State-run news outlets say recordings from the plane's "black box" data recorder and cockpit voice recorder reveal the plane went into a nose dive after ice developed on the wings. The jet was also hit by sudden crosswinds as it plummeted to earth, causing the engines to stall, or lose the ability to keep the plane flying at a steady altitude.

Most of the passengers aboard the plane were family members of military personnel. Many of the bodies recovered from the wreckage were women and children.

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