World Bulletin / News Desk

Myanmar has resumed search and rescue efforts on Sunday after an approaching storm Saturday temporarily halted the hunt for a military plane crashed off the country’s southern coast, official said.

Thirteen more bodies have been pulled from the Andaman Sea on Sunday -- the fifth day of search – as navy vessels and local fishing trawlers fight fierce monsoon weather to continue the search and rescue operation, office of the military chief said in a statement.

That brings the total number of fatalities to 46 to date (around 1 p.m. local time [0630 GMT]), it said.

Twenty-three women and nine children were among the bodies founded in the Andaman Sea, about 550 kilometers south of the country’s largest city Yangon.

The Chinese-made Y8-200F aircraft was carrying 122 people, including 15 children when it went missing on Wednesday evening during a flight from the southern town of Myeik to Yangon.

Authorities later confirmed that the plane crashed into the sea after bodies and debris from the missing plane were found on Thursday.

China offered help and support on Saturday for Myanmar’s hunt for the plane which was in service since March 2016 as Myanmar begun probe into the accident in cooperation with officials from the Chinese aircraft manufacturer.

Gen. Aung Ye Win, a spokesperson of Myanmar military, told reporters that military is determined to continue the search, but admitted chances of finding survivors are fading due to bad weather.

During the cash donation ceremony for victim families in capital Nay Pyi Taw on Saturday, Army chief Sen.Gen Min Aung Hlaing described the accident as the worst air disaster in the country’s military history.

Eight military personnel were killed in two separate training aircraft accidents last year.

According to a local media report, Myanmar has had 17 aircraft accidents since 1998, most of them involving small passenger aircraft.