Myanmar Airways Bad landing in Kawthaung -VIDEO

YANGON, Myanmar – A domestic Myanma Airways flight had a minor landing mishap Monday, one of two on the same day in Asia involving the same model of Chinese-made twin turboprop aircraft. There were no deaths in either accident.

The accident, the third since late December, comes as Myanmar is experiencing a boom in tourism after instituting democratic reforms that caused western nations to lift most longstanding sanctions that had been applied against the previous repressive military regime.

Myanmar state television showed the scene of the bad landing in Kawthaung in southeastern Myanmar. The Facebook page of the national police said the aircraft carrying four crew members and 60 passengers swerved off one side of the runway on landing Monday on a flight from Mawlamyine that had originated from Yangon, the country’s biggest city.

State-owned Myanmar Airways skidded off the runway on landing at the Kawthaung Airport in southern Myanmar on Monday due to a hydraulic system failure. No injuries were reported.  

The Chinese-made MA60 plane, carrying 60 passengers and 4 flight crew, skidded about 200 feet west of the runway and came to rest in some bushes. Both propellers on the plane’s wings have been damaged but no one was injured.

“[The pilot] took caution in landing the airplane after seeing the hydraulic system failure signal. After the plane’s wheel touched the runway, the plane skidded off about 200 feet from the runway’s edge,” said Than Htun, managing director of Myanmar Airways.

The airplane operates daily domestic flights from Yangon to Mawlamyaing and Kawthaung.

“After the plane took off it returned back to Yangon, which they said was due to mechanical errors. Nothing happened on the way from Yangon to Mawlamyaing. It only happened when we arrived in Kawthaung. The passengers were in chaos and a baby fell under the seat,” said a passenger.

A similar event occurred on May 16 in which the MA60 plane with registration XY-AIQ on Heho-Monghsat flight overran the runaway on landing at Monghsat airport because of a brake problem, causing two serious injuries and substantial damage to the aircraft.