Man rescued from rubble in Myanmar's capital as civil war complicates
relief efforts
[April 02, 2025]
By DAVID RISING
BANGKOK (AP) — Rescue crews in Myanmar pulled a 26-year-old man out
alive from the rubble of the capital city hotel where he worked early
Wednesday, but most teams were finding only bodies five days after a
massive earthquake hit the country.
After using an endoscopic camera to pinpoint Naing Lin Tun's location in
the rubble and confirm that he was alive, the man was gingerly pulled
through a hole jackhammered through a floor and loaded on to a gurney
nearly 108 hours after he was trapped in the hotel where he worked.
Shirtless and covered in dust, Naing Lin Tun appeared weak but conscious
in a video released by the local fire department, as he was fitted with
an IV drip and taken away. State-run MRTV reported that the rescue in
the city of Naypyitaw was carried out by a Turkish and local team and
took more than nine hours.
The 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit midday Friday, toppling thousands of
buildings, collapsing bridges and buckling roads. So far, 2,886 people
have been reported dead in Myanmar and another 4,639 injured, according
to state television MRTV, but local reports suggest much higher figures.
The earthquake also rocked neighboring Thailand, causing the collapse of
a high-rise building under construction in Bangkok. One body was removed
from the rubble early Wednesday, raising the death total in Bangkok to
22 with 34 injured, primarily at the construction site.
Myanmar has been wracked by civil war and the earthquake is making a
dire humanitarian crisis even worse, with more than 3 million people
displaced from their homes and nearly 20 million in need even before it
hit, according to the United Nations.
Claims of an attack on a Chinese Red Cross convoy
The Three Brotherhood Alliance, one of a powerful group of militias that
has taken a large swath of the country from the military, announced a
unilateral one-month ceasefire on Tuesday to facilitate the humanitarian
response. The shadow opposition National Unity Government had already
called a ceasefire for its forces.
But attacks have continued since the quake. Most recently, an opposition
militia belonging to the Brotherhood Alliance reported that the military
fired on a relief convoy of nine Chinese Red Cross vehicles late Tuesday
on a road in the northern part of Shan state near Ohn Ma Tee village.
The Ta’ang National Liberation Army said the Chinese Red Cross was
bringing supplies to Mandalay and had reported its route to the
military.
But Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, spokesman for the military regime, told
state-run MRTV that the convoy had not notified authorities of its route
ahead of time. While not mentioning the Red Cross, he said security
forces had fired into the air to deter a convoy that refused to stop
near Ohn Ma Tee village, the site of recent fighting with the TNLA.
Asked about he incident, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo
Jiakun did not comment on the attack, but said “relief supplies provided
by the Red Cross Society of China to Myanmar have arrived in Myanmar and
are on the way to Mandalay,” adding that “rescue personnel and supplies
are safe.”
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Rescuers clean debris from damaged buildings in the aftermath of
Friday's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Wednesday, April 2, 2025.
(AP Photo)
China is incredibly economically important to Myanmar, and also one
of the military's largest suppliers with weapons, along with Russia.
On Tuesday, Tom Andrews, a monitor on rights in Myanmar commissioned
by the U.N.-backed Human Rights Council, said on X that military
attacks must stop to facilitate aid.
“The focus in Myanmar must be on saving lives, not taking them,” he
said.
More international aid heads to Myanmar
Countries have pledged millions in assistance to help Myanmar and
humanitarian aid organizations with the monumental task ahead.
Australia on Wednesday said it was providing another $4.5 million,
in addition to $1.25 million it had already committed, and had a
rapid response team on the ground.
India has flown in aid and sent two Navy ships with supplies as well
as providing some 200 rescue workers. Multiple other countries have
sent teams, including 270 people from China, 212 from Russia and 122
from the United Arab Emirates.
A three-person team from the U.S. Agency for International
Development arrived Tuesday to determine how best to respond given
limited U.S. resources due to the slashing of the foreign aid budget
and dismantling of the agency as an independent operation.
Washington said on the weekend it would provide $2 million in
emergency assistance.
Extent of devastation beyond major cities is still unclear
Most of the details so far have come from Mandalay, Myanmar’s
second-largest city, which was near the epicenter of the earthquake,
and the capital Naypyitaw, about 270 kilometers (165 miles) north of
Mandalay.
Many areas are without power, telephone or cell connections, and
difficult to reach by road, but more reports are beginning to
trickle in.
In Singu township, about 65 kilometers (40 miles) north of Mandalay,
27 gold miners were killed were killed in a cave-in, the independent
Democratic Voice of Burma reported.
In the area of Inle Lake, northeast of the capital, many people died
when homes built on wooden stilts in the water collapsed in the
earthquake, the government's official Global New Light of Myanmar
reported without providing specific figures.
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Matthew Lee in Washington, and Jintamas Saksornchai in Bangkok,
contributed to this report.
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