NEWS- Eight Feared Dead in Myanmar

[Rangoonp@xxxxxxx]

Subject: NEWS- Eight Feared Dead in Myanmar Airways Crash

NOTE: Is this a 3rd good reason not to fly Myanmar Airways owned by a
cheap-skate from Malaysia ??

Eight Feared Dead in Myanmar Airways Crash

               Reuters
               02-JUL-99

               YANGON, Burma (Reuters) - A Myanmar Airways turboprop
               on a domestic chartered cargo flight crashed a few
minutes
               before landing in western Myanmar Friday and all eight
               people aboard were feared dead, industry sources said. 

               The sources, who work in the air cargo industry and did
not
               want to be identified, said the Fokker aircraft crashed
about
               five minutes before it was due to land at the coastal
town of
               Sittwe, about 350 miles northwest of Yangon. 

               Airline declined to comment on what was the third fatal
crash
               of a state-owned Myanmar Airways Fokker in 18 months. 

               The sources quoted witnesses as saying the aircraft
crashed
               on an island near Sittwe airstrip and its wreckage was
               spread over a forested area. They said eight people were
               aboard, including crew and some low-ranking government
               officials. 

               Last August, a Fokker F-27 belonging to the airline
crashed
               in bad weather near the northeastern town of Tachilek,
               killing all 36 people aboard. In January 1998, 14 people,
               including three foreigners, were killed when another F-27
               crashed near the town of Thandwe about 200 miles
               northwest of Yangon. 

               The Dutch Fokker went bankrupt in 1996.