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MYANMAR-ACCIDENT-FLOOD-LANDSLIDE
Myanmar landslide kills 22, many more feared missing
MAWLAMYINE, Myanmar, Aug 10, 2019 (AFP) – At least 22 people were killed
when a landslide triggered by monsoon rains struck a village in eastern
Myanmar, as emergency workers continued the search Saturday for scores more
feared missing.
A huge brown scar on the hillside marked where the deluge of mud descended
on Thae Pyar Kone village in Mon state on Friday, wiping out 16 homes and a
monastery.
Search and rescue teams worked through the night trying to find survivors
and recover bodies from the deep sludge.
“So far we have found 22 bodies and 47 injured people,” said local
administrator Myo Min Tun.
Officials believe up to 100 people could still be missing.
Aerial pictures showed broken remnants of rooftops and other debris from
the houses strewn next to trucks knocked over by the force of the mudslide.
Htay Htay Win, 32, told AFP that two of her daughters and five other
relatives had still not been found.
“I heard a huge noise and turned round to see my home being hit by the
mud,” she said, crying.
Rescue workers spent Saturday morning loading bodies wrapped in plastic
onto the back of flatbed trucks as worried villagers looked on.
Emergency crews had to unblock the main highway from Yangon to Mawlamyine,
buried under six feet (1.8 metres) of sludge.
Torrential downpours have burst riverbanks across the country while coastal
communities have been warned of higher tides.
In the town of Shwegyin in eastern Bago region, residents waded out through
waist-deep waters or waited to be rescued by boat after the Sittaung river
burst its banks, swallowing entire homes.
Around 89,000 people have been displaced by floods in recent weeks,
although many have since been able to return home, according to the UN’s
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Vietnam has also experienced heavy flooding this week with at least eight
people killed in the country’s central highlands and rescuers using a zipline
to carry dozens of others to safety.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1104 hrs