12 dead as another military plane crashes in Myanmar.

 A military plane has crashed near Myanmar’s second-biggest city of Mandalay, killing at least 12 people.

The plane was flying from the capital, Naypyidaw, to the town of Pyin Oo Lwin on Thursday and was coming in to land when it crashed about 300 metres (984 feet) from a steel plant, the military-owned Myawaddy television station reported.

 

Zaw Min Tun, a spokesman for Myanmar’s military, said the plane had “lost communications” during bad weather.

 

Emergency workers were still on the scene, he added.

The plane was carrying six military personnel and also monks who were due to attend a ceremony at a Buddhist monastery, other media reports said.

Among the victims was one of Myanmar’s most influential Buddhist monks – Abhisheka Maha Rattha Guru Bhatanda Kavisara, according to the Irrawaddy news website. The monk is venerated by the Myanmar military, it reported.