Myanmar military transport plane with more than 100 people on board is missing

The Shaanxi Y-8 transport was flying at 5500m when it disappeared.

The wreckage of a Myanmar military transport plane carrying more than 100 people has been found in the Andaman Sea.

General Meat Min Oo said the Chinese-made Y-8 turboprop aircraft was carrying 90 passengers - mostly families of military personnel - and 14 crew members when it went missing Wednesday afternoon.

However, later reports said 106 passengers and 14 crew were on board.

"The military plane went missing and lost contact after it took off from Myeik, and now the military has started a sea and air search with naval ships and military aircraft and is preparing for rescue operations," Oo said.

Wreckage has now been spotted off the coast near Dawei.

He added it was raining at the time, but not heavily.

Myeik, also known as Mergui, is a city in southeastern Myanmar on the Andaman coast. Much of the plane's route would have been over the Andaman Sea.

An announcement posted on the Facebook page of the commander of the military, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, said the flight took off from Myeik at 1:06pm and contact was lost at 1:35pm, when it was last seen on radar about 32km west of Dawei, formerly known as Tavoy.

Hlaing said the Shaanxi Y-8 transport was flying at 5500m.