According to AlJazeera, a military plane has crashed near Myanmar’s second-biggest city of Mandalay, killing at least 12 people.

The plane was flying from the capital, Naypyidaw, to the town of Pyin Oo Lwin on Thursday and was coming in to land when it crashed about 300 metres (984 feet) from a steel plant, the military-owned Myawaddy television station reported.

Zaw Min Tun, a spokesman for Myanmar’s military, said the plane had “lost communications” during bad weather.

Emergency workers were still on the scene, he added.

The plane was carrying six military personnel and also monks who were due to attend a ceremony at a Buddhist monastery, other media reports said.

Among the victims was one of Myanmar’s most influential Buddhist monks – Abhisheka Maha Rattha Guru Bhatanda Kavisara, according to the Irrawaddy news website. The monk is venerated by the Myanmar military, it reported.

A second monk, two lieutenant commanders and two captains also died, Irrawaddy said.

There were no reports of casualties among people on the ground.

The pilot and one passenger survived and were taken to a military hospital, according to a resident and posting by a community group.

Photographs on social media showed a badly damaged fuselage lying on its side.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since a military coup removed the elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1, with daily protests in towns and cities and fighting in borderlands between the military and ethnic minority militias.