A Myanmar military plane is missing, the national army chief confirmed in a statement. A local aviation official said 105 people were on board, according to reports.

A search and rescue operation is underway after the plane dropped off the radar on Wednesday while flying over the Andaman Sea between the southern city of Myeik and Yagon.

“Communication was lost suddenly at about 1:35pm when it reached about 20 miles west of Dawei town,” the statement read, according to local media. The military has deployed both the air force and navy to search for the aircraft.

    

“The total number of people on the military plane is 105. We received this information from the airplane before departure,” Kyaw Kyaw Htey, a civil aviation official at Myeik airport, told Reuters.

“We don’t know what exactly happened to this plane after the loss of contact,” Htey added.

It’s understood the plane, a Chinese-built Shaanxi Y-8, could be carrying both military personnel and their relatives.

“We think it was a technical failure. Weather is fine there,” an airport source told AFP. It’s currently monsoon season in Myanmar and stormy conditions were forecast, according to weather reports.

Debris of Missing Myanmar Military Plane Found in the Sea

Debris of a military plane disappeared from radars in Myanmar early in the day found in the Andaman sea, AFP reports citing local official.

“Now they have found pieces of the damaged plane in the sea 136 miles (218 km) away from Dawei city,” AFP citing Naing Lin Zaw, a tourism official in Myeik city, as saying.