Burma plane parts, also bodies, in sea
RANGOON, Burma — A military transport plane with 120 people on board disappeared Wednesday on a flight from southern Burma to Rangoon, a military spokesman said.
Gen. Myat Min Oo later reported bodies and aircraft parts were found in the sea west of the town of Laung Lone.
He said the Chinese-made Y-8 turboprop aircraft was carrying 106 passengers — mostly families of military personnel — and 14 crew members when it disappeared Wednesday afternoon.
“The military plane went missing and lost contact after it took off from Myeik, and now the military has started a sea and air search with naval ships and military aircraft and is preparing for rescue operations,” he said.
It was raining at the time, but not heavily, he said.
In a later statement, the spokesman reported that a navy ship found a tire that was part of an aircraft wheel, two life jackets and the bodies of a man, a woman and a child.
In spat, Germans to exit Turkey base
BERLIN — Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Cabinet decided Wednesday to pull German troops and reconnaissance aircraft out of Turkey’s Incirlik air base after Turkish officials refused to let lawmakers visit them.
The troops and planes participating in the international coalition against the Islamic State extremist group will redeploy to Jordan. Merkel portrayed the move as allowing Germany and Turkey to put aside one of many problems causing friction between the two NATO allies.
Germany has about 270 troops stationed at Incirlik, near the Syrian border, with six Tornado reconnaissance aircraft and a refueling plane.
It pledged to do what it can to limit disruption caused by the move to a base in Jordan. The Defense Ministry said the relocation would take the refueling plane out of service for two to three weeks, and the reconnaissance planes for two to three months.
Turkey blocked the Incirlik visit request in anger over German authorities’ decision to grant asylum to soldiers and other people that Turkey accuses of participating in last year’s failed coup.
Mexico prison riot results in 7 killings
MEXICO CITY — An hourslong rolling gunbattle at a northern Mexico penitentiary left seven people dead and 13 injured, authorities reported Wednesday.
Continuous automatic gunfire was heard late Tuesday at the prison in Ciudad Victoria, the capital of the state of Tamaulipas, which borders Texas.
The gunfire continued into the morning at the prison, which has been one of Mexico’s most troubled. Authorities reported that the facility was back under control by late morning.
The state security spokesman’s office said three police officers and four inmates died in the shootouts, and six police and seven prisoners were wounded.
Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission said Wednesday that it had sent a delegation to the lockup to document what happened and check the health of inmates.
In a statement, the commission said it audited the prison in 2016 and found problems, including overcrowding and insufficient supervision and personnel.
Ciudad Victoria has long been dominated by the hyper-violent Zetas drug cartel.