Deadly landslide in Myanmar

Rescue workers attempt to free a cow caught under a van after a landslide in Paung township, Mon state on 10 August, 2019. (AFP Photo)

The death toll from a landslide triggered by monsoon rains in eastern Myanmar rose to at least 41, an official said late Saturday, as emergency workers continued for a second night their desperate search through thick mud for the scores feared missing.

A huge brown gash on the hillside marked where the deluge of mud flooded onto Ye Pyar Kone village in Mon state on Friday, wiping out 27 homes.

Search and rescue teams worked through Friday night and into late Saturday, using excavators and their bare hands to recover bodies from the deep sludge.

"The death toll has risen to 41," township administrator Zaw Moe Aung said on Saturday.

Some farm animals, like cows and goats, were found alive, but "there are no humans left alive," he said, adding that the search operations will push through for a second night.



Aerial pictures of Ye Pyar Kone village showed shattered remnants of rooftops and other debris from the houses strewn next to trucks knocked over by the force of the onslaught.

Its hillside temple was left inundated, leaving the pagoda's golden spire peeking out from beneath the mud.

Htay Win, 32, said that two of her daughters and five other relatives had still not been found.


"I heard a huge noise and turned around to see my home being hit by the mud," she said, crying.

Mud and water

Rescue workers on Saturday continued to carry out excavated bodies wrapped in plastic to waiting ambulances, wading through pools of water and ankle-deep sludge.

Crying relatives of the missing watched on helpless under a steady torrent of rain, as nearby floodwaters edged closer to the village.

Tin Htay, who escaped with his family from their home, described his efforts to rescue others trapped by the mud.

"I dragged a woman and two children from a car but I could not reach two other people, so I had to leave them," the 30-year-old said.

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 United Nations' (UN) 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. - AFP