"Communication was lost suddenly at about 1:35 pm (07:05 GMT) when it reached about 20 miles west of Dawei town"

Debris from a missing Myanmar military plane carrying more than 116 people was found in the Andaman Sea late on Wednesday, a local official and an air force source told AFP.

The plane went missing between the southern city of Myeik and Yangon, according to the office of the Army Chief and an airport source.

"Now they have found pieces of the damaged plane in the sea 218 kms away from Dawei city," said Naing Lin Zaw, a tourism official in Myeik city, adding that the Navy was still searching the sea.

“Communication was lost suddenly at about 1:35 pm (07:05 GMT) when it reached about 20 miles west of Dawei town,” the commander-in-chief’s office said in a statement. It added that search and rescue operations were on.

The airport source, who asked not to be named, said the plane was carrying 105 passengers and 11 crew.