At least six of the 14 people on board a Myanmar military plane were injured after it skidded off the runway at Mizoram’s Lengpui airport on Tuesday. The plane was sent to bring back the soldiers who had taken refuge in the northeastern state amid troubles with the insurgent group in their country.

Mizoram Director General of Police (DGP) said the injured persons have been admitted to Lengpui hospital for treatment.

The table top runway at Lengpui, known as a challenging landing area, led to the incident.

India on Monday repatriated 184 Myanmar soldiers who fled to Mizoram amid a firefight with an ethnic insurgent group last week. Confirming this, an Assam Rifles official said that a total of 276 Myanmar soldiers had entered the northeastern state last week.

The troops were flown in Myanmar Air Force planes from Lengpui airport to Sittwe in Rakhine state. The remaining 92 soldiers were to be sent back on Tuesday.

On January 17, Myanmar troops entered Bandukbanga village on the India-Myanmar-Bangladesh border in Langtalai, Mizoram’s southernmost district, with arms and ammunition. After this, he contacted Assam Rifles.

The soldiers had to flee their country after their camp was captured by ‘Arakan Army’ fighters.

These soldiers were taken to the Assam Rifles camp at nearby Parva and later – most of them were shifted to Lunglei, an official said. Since then, they were under the surveillance of Assam Rifles, the officer said.

The soldiers were brought to Aizawl over the weekend to be sent back to Myanmar. Officials said their group included 36 officers and 240 lower-level personnel, led by a colonel.

About 635 Myanmar soldiers have so far fled to Mizoram after their camps were captured by ethnic insurgent groups and pro-democracy forces. Officials said that 359 of these soldiers have already been sent back to their country.

In November last year, 104 Myanmar Army personnel were airlifted from various places in Mizoram to Moreh town in Manipur via Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters, and then returned.

Mizoram shares a 510 km long border with Myanmar.

,With PTI inputs)