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Reuters-Myanmar crash victims raped



Myanmar crash victims raped, murdered--paper 
11:36 p.m. Sep 19, 1998 Eastern 

BANGKOK, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Several people survived the crash of a
passenger aircraft in eastern Myanmar last month, only to suffer rape,
torture and eventual death at the hands of local villagers, the Bangkok
Post reported on Sunday. 



In a full-page report which quoted unnamed officials and witnesses from the
region of the crash site, the paper said an air hostess and a female
university student from the Myanmar Airways Fokker F-27 turboprop were
gang-raped by villagers and an infant starved to death. 



The report said at least five people had survived the crash. 



It said male survivors were tortured and villagers chopped off ears and
fingers to get at passengers' gold jewellery. The report also said that
living and dead Myanmar military personnel who were among the passengers
were kicked and punched by the ethnic Shan villagers. 



It said Myanmar authorities had questioned at least 14 Shan villagers in
connection with the incident. 



A spokesman for Myanmar's military government in Yangon did not immediately
respond to a faxed query from Reuters about the report. 



After the August 24 crash, Myanmar officials gave several conflicting
reports as to the fate of the plane and those aboard, all of whom were
Myanmar citizens. 



The aircraft crashed while on a scheduled domestic flight from Myanmar's
capital Yangon to Tachilek, the main town on the Myanmar side of the
``Golden Triangle'' opium growing region, which is formed by the juncture
of Myanmar, Thailand and Laos. 



At one stage, a Myanmar Airways official said the plane had landed safely
in Laos. Then a Myanmar government spokesman said Laos had told Yangon the
aircraft had crashed there. 



The government said initially that 39 people were aboard the plane,
including four crew members and three babies. Eventually they said there
were 36 people aboard and all died after the plane crashed six km (four
miles) northeast of Tachilek. 



Airline officials said most of those aboard were military personnel. 



The Bangkok Post report quoted witnesses as saying that up to 12 were
soldiers while other passengers were their wives and children. It said the
passengers included the Tachilek police chief and senior officials of the
town. 



The Ministry of Information has said the Fokker had been unable to land at
Tachilek, which is about 550 km (340 miles) northeast of Yangon, due to
poor weather. It was diverted to Heho in the southeast but then lost
contact with ground control. 



It was the second crash of a Myanmar Airways F-27 this year. 



In January, 14 people, including three foreigners, were killed when a
Myanmar Airways plane carrying about 45 people on a domestic flight crashed
near Thandwe, about 320 km (200 miles) northwest of Yangon.