In a dramatic incident at Mizoram’s
Lengpui airport near Aizawl, a small Myanmar military plane overshot the
tabletop runway, crash-landing into a bush on Tuesday. Miraculously, all 14
passengers, including the pilot, survived the ordeal, with eight sustaining
minor injuries and receiving treatment at a local health center.
The military aircraft was tasked with
transporting 92 Myanmarese soldiers, who had crossed into Bharat following
conflicts with an ethnic insurgent group the previous week. Officials reported
that the Myanmar air force Y-8 cargo plane veered off the tabletop runway
around 10:20 am, crash-landing into a nearby bush and causing damage to the
bottom of the fuselage.
The injured passengers were promptly
taken to the Lengpui primary health center for medical attention. Subsequently,
the airport runway was closed, and all flights for the day were cancelled.
The Directorate General of Civil
Aviation or DGCA has initiated an investigation into the incident, emphasizing
the need to determine the cause of the accident.
The soldiers, who sought refuge in
Mizoram after their camp was overrun by ‘Arakan Army’ fighters, had entered
Bandukbanga village in Mizoram’s Lawngtlai district on January 17. The group,
consisting of 36 officers and 240 lower-rank personnel, arrived in batches and
was scheduled to be repatriated to Sittwe in Myanmar’s Rakhine State.
This event marks another chapter in the
series of soldiers seeking asylum in Mizoram due to conflicts in Myanmar. A
total of 635 soldiers have fled to Mizoram over the past few months, seeking
refuge after their camps were captured by ethnic armed organizations and
pro-democratic forces.
Mizoram, with its 510-km-long border
with Myanmar, continues to be a focal point for these cross-border incidents.
