BBC-Burmese government criticizes n

[hlaing@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Sunday, September 20, 1998 Published at 12:19 GMT 13:19 UK 

Burmese government criticizes newspaper report on crash victims torture 

The Burmese authorities have strongly criticised a newspaper report that
says local villagers tortured and raped survivors of a plane that crashed
last month. 

The plane, on a flight from the capital, Rangoon, was carrying at least
thirty-six people -- many of them military personnel. 

It disappeared after bad weather prevented it from landing in the
north-eastern state of Shan. 

The Bangkok Post says rescuers took three days to locate the wreck, but
that village people who arrived shortly after the crash found at least five
survivors. It said the villagers kicked and punched what it called the
hated men of the Burmese army. A government statement said the report was
based on pure speculation, and heavily spiced with racial hatred and
anti-military sentiments. 



>From the newsroom of the BBC World Service