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Like a ‘Roller Coaster’: Survivors of Christmas PlaneCrash Describe the Horrifying Experience (See the

Pictures)Posted on December 26, 2012 at 9:38am by Liz Klimas

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Survivors of a Christmas Day crash-landing of an airliner in Myanmar told terrifying

tales of escape Wednesday as carrier Air Bagan said it had found the plane’s black box and was investigating the

accident that killed two people.

Details of the crash remain unclear, though the airline and officials have blamed heavy fog for the aircraft’s crash

into a rice paddy field where it burst into flames. Two died and 11 were injured, including four foreigners.

This photo taken on December 25, 2012 shows a man walking the fuselage of an Air Bagan

passenger plane burn after it crashed near Heho airport in Myanmar’s eastern Shan state. (Photo:

STR/AFP/Getty Images)

a ‘Roller Coaster’: Survivors of Christmas Plane Crash Describe th... http://www.theblaze.com/stories/like-a-roller-coaster-survivors-o

12/26/2012



(Photo: STR/AFP/Getty Images)

The aging Fokker 100 jet was carrying 71 people, including 48 foreigners, from the city of Yangon via Mandalay to

Heho airport, which is the gateway to the popular tourist destination Inle Lake.

“We felt the first bump, then a few big bumps and then (started) sliding very fast,” said 31-year-old Australian

advertising executive Anna Bartsch. Her boyfriend, Stuart Benson, described the landing like “a roller coaster” ride.

The plane came to a stop and they felt relief – and then panic.

Watch this report with footage of the debris left on Dec. 26:

“In my window I saw the flames, and it was hot and we knew straight away we didn’t have much time to get out,”

Bartsch said during an interview at a Yangon hotel where the airline lodged passengers after evacuating them from

the scene.


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(Photo: STR/AFP/Getty Images)

(Photo: AP)

Passengers rushed up the aisle to the front door, which was initially stuck shut, she said.

“We didn’t know then that the wings had come off,” Bartsch said.

The door was quickly forced open and passengers raced from the plane, some in shock and some suffering smoke

inhalation, she said. Once on safe ground, Bartsch said she saw the pilot and co-pilot with bloodied faces and other


12/26/2012



people with serious burns.

“It’s amazing that the injuries were not more serious,” she said. “It could have been much worse.”

An unidentified injured man who was onboard an Air Bagan passenger place when it made an

emergence landing, talks to journalists in Heho, Shan State, Myanmar. (Photo: AP)

Air Bagan said late Tuesday that the plane’s black box will be sent to Singapore to study the cause of the accident.

Air Bagan has said “the plane hit electrical cables about a mile (1.6 kilometers) from Heho airport as it descended

and landed in rice fields.”

The Information Ministry said the pilot mistook a road near the airport for the runway before stopping in a nearby rice

paddy. It was unclear if the plane made its crash landing on the road or the rice field.


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A local resident walks past debris from a plane that crash landed the day before near Heho airport in

southern Shan state on December 26. (Photo: SOE THAN WIN/AFP/Getty Images)


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(Photo: Soe Than WIN/AFP/Getty Images)

All fatalities were Myanmar citizens, including a man riding a motorcycle where the plane came down and a tour

guide aboard the plane. There were earlier reports of an 11-year-old child also among the dead.

The accident has raised concerns about the safety standards of Myanmar’s overburdened airlines as foreign visitors

have flocked to the country which is emerging from a half-century of military rule.


12/26/2012



An officer from Department of Civil Aviation inspects the remains of a plane that crash landed the day

before near Heho airport in the southern Shan state on December 26. (Photo: SOE THAN WIN/AFP

/Getty Images)

Air Bagan is one of a half dozen private airlines that fly domestic routes in Myanmar. It is a unit of Htoo TradingCompany, which is owned by business tycoon Tay Za.

All information © 2012 TheBlaze LLC


like a ‘roller coaster’ survivors of christmas plane crash desc

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