Mizoram: Myanmar Army Aircraft With 14 On Board Crashes At Mizoram Airport

AIZAWL: In a tragic incident, a military aircraft of the Myanmar Army crash-landed at Lengpui airport in Mizoram on 23 January. The Mizoram Director General of Police has informed that there were 14 Burmese army personnel, including the pilot, on board the aircraft.

The fatal accident has caused injuries to six people who were immediately rushed to the Lengpui Hospital. However, no casualties have been reported so far.

According to reports, the aircraft had arrived to pick up Myanmar Army personnel, who recently entered India, and incurred damage after skidding off the runway at Lengpui airport.

Coincidentally, the mishap occurred on a day an official of the Assam Rifles stated that India had expelled as many as 184 Burmese troops to their own country after they had fled to Mizoram last week following clashes with an ethnic insurgent group.

The official said that a total of 276 soldiers belonging to the Myanmar army had entered Mizoram last week, and of them, 184 were sent back on 23 January. She added that the troops were flown on Myanmar air force planes from the Lengpui airport near Aizawl to Sittwe in the neighbouring country’s Rakhine state.

The official further went on to say that the remaining 92 soldiers will be deported on Tuesday.

Notably, the Burmese troops had entered Indian territory via the Bandukbanga village, located at the India-Myanmar-Bangladesh trijunction, in southernmost Mizoram’s Lawngtlai district with arms and ammunition on January 17 and approached the Assam rifles. They retreated to Mizoram as their camp was overrun and subsequently annexed by ‘Arakan Army’ fighters.

As per the official, the Burmese army personnel were escorted to the nearby Assam Rifles camp at Parva. Thereafter, majority of them were shifted to Lunglei.

The official informed that the troops had been placed under the supervision of the Assam Rifles since then. These 276 soldiers were brought to Aizawl over Saturday and Sunday, for their transport to Myanmar from the Lengpui airport.

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