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NEWS - Confused handling of Myanmar



Confused handling of Myanmar plane crash sparks conspiracy theories

       Mon 31 Aug 98 - 05:46 GMT 

       BANGKOK, Aug 31 (AFP) - A Myanmar passenger jet plunged into a
mountainside, killing all on board. Or did it? And how many
       were on board anyway?

       Analysts highlight the confusion over the apparent air disaster
as another example of spin doctors from the isolated state at play,
       saying their handling of the saga was either conspiratorial or
simply incompetent.<<I'd say Incompentence>>

       Officials confirmed only Saturday that the Myanmar Airways
Fokker-27 had crashed, five days after it went missing in bad weather
       during a scheduled domestic flight. But even that announcement,
carried in the official New Light of Myanmar daily, conceded only
       that it was "probable" there were no survivors and did not
indicate how many had been on board the aircraft.

       Airline officials had variously said there were 36 or 39
passengers and crew, all of them Myanmar nationals. Aviation sources in
       Yangon said most of the passengers were military officers and
their families.

       "It's really been a complete shambles," said one western diplomat
in the Myanmar capital.

       "From the day it went missing until now they have failed to tell
us what the true situation is. God help us if an international carrier
       comes down here with lots of people on board."

       Airline officials Monday said the flight from Yangon to the
northeastern town of Tachilek had simply gone missing after being
ordered
       to divert to another airport because of poor visibility. The
pilot had been told to land at the Myanmar town of Heho or the northern
Thai
       city of Chiang Mai, rather than Tachilek, in Shan state, within
the "Golden Triangle" opium-growing area.

       The officials claimed the following day that the plane had landed
safely at an airport in neighbouring Laos and that all on board were
       safe. Then they said it had in fact landed in a field in Laos,
but that everyone was safe.

       A flurry of contradictory reports followed before confirmation
came Friday, from Thai military officials who had helped search for the
       plane, that the aircraft had crashed within Myanmar and that all
on board were dead.

       The confusion has sparked a range of conspiracy theories, from it
being an attempted cover-up to protect the already shaky
       reputation of Myanmar's carriers and shield its fledgling tourism
industry, to talk of bombs and hijackings.

       "I don't think many people really believe it was an attack of
some kind," said another foreign diplomat in Yangon.

       "But I could buy the cover-up theory. A crash certainly doesn't
help the reputation of the airline or the country, as other countries
have
       found out. But how could they seriously believe they could cover
up the loss of a plane and all those people? It was pretty badly
       bungled."

       Other diplomats said the saga was more likely the result of
disorganisation and incompetence on the part of some officials in an
       impoverished country whose bureaucracy is not known for its
efficiency.

       "Everything moves pretty slowly here, so it's not surprising they
were so slow in responding to a plane crash," added one.

       "Perhaps the airline really did believe it had landed in Laos,
though you have to wonder who told them that originally. If it wasn't
the
       pilot -- who obviously wasn't speaking at that time -- then it
should have been Lao officials, or maybe the Thais. But I don't think
they
       would just make it up.

       "Unless, of course, we are talking about two different planes --
one that crashed and one that didn't. Anything is possible in Burma."