Six people were injured after a plane from the Mynamar Army crashed at Lengpui airport in Mizoram. The small plane had arrived in Aizawl to take back the Myanmarese soldiers who crossed over to India last week, following gunfights with an ethnic insurgent group, they said.
Fourteen people were on board with the pilot. While landing, it overshot the tabletop runway of the Mizoram government-run airport and crashed. The impact of the accident was such that the plane split into two, they said.
The injured were admitted to Lengpui Hospital, the Mizoram DGP told ANI.
"All incoming flights have been diverted. When flight services, incoming and outgoing, will resume is yet to be known. Hoping all passengers would be able to either fly in or fly out as soon as possible, especially people with medical emergency," a state government official said. A total of 276 Myanmarese soldiers had entered Mizoram last week, and of them, 184 were sent back on Monday, officials said.
The 276 Myanmarese soldiers entered Bandukbanga village, located at the India-Myanmar-Bangladesh trijunction, in southernmost Mizoram's Lawngtlai district with arms and ammunition on 17 January and approached the Assam Rifles. They fled to Mizoram after their camp was overrun and captured by 'Arakan Army' fighters.
The Myanmarese soldiers were taken to the nearby Assam Rifles camp at Parva, and later the majority of them were shifted to Lunglei, the official said. They have been under the supervision of the Assam Rifles since then, the official said.
These 276 soldiers were brought to Aizawl over Saturday and Sunday, for their transport to Myanmar from the Lengpui airport. The group, headed by a colonel, has 36 officers and 240 lower-rank personnel, officials said.
Mizoram shares a 510-km-long border with Myanmar.
With inputs from PTI
First Published: Jan 23, 2024 12:43 PM IST
