Police have revealed that the sole survivor of a car fire on the Yangon-Mandalay highway that claimed the lives of eight people this past Saturday lied in his initial testimony, according to Eleven.
The group had been making the trip back to Yangon following a pilgrimage when just four miles outside the city limits, the car burst into flames.
The survivor, Aung Khant, had told authorities that although he had been driving throughout the journey, he switched places with the other male passenger due to fatigue. The car set on fire shortly afterwards.
However, Aung Khant confessed on Monday that he had been driving the vehicle at the time of the accident, and that he had lied about being in the passenger seat because he was scared of being blamed.
“At first, he said that he was riding in the shotgun seat and we accepted his statement. However, we then collected evidence before the second interrogation, which was when he admitted that he had been behind the wheel. The vehicle’s right tire burst, causing it to crash into the guard rail in the middle of the road,” an officer at the No. 3 Highway Police Station told Eleven.
Relatives of the deceased had already suspected Aung Khant of premeditated murder; while this doesn’t prove that the accident was more than just an accident, it has raised the suspicions of authorities and allowed them to further detain Aung Khant for more questioning.
Once news of the accident spread, citizens had also formed their own theories about the nature of the incident, emphasizing the fact that Aung Khant had no blood or cuts on his body and that the victims’ unrecognisably burnt bodies were found in their seats without any signs of struggle or attempts to escape from the fire.
The husband of one of the victims explained, “I talked to my wife at 7:52 am. It is ridiculous that eight people were burnt beyond recognition and one person escaped without a scratch. Were the victims under some drug, given that there were no signs of struggle? It could’ve been arson. If the gas tank exploded, it should have burnt the vehicle from the bottom. I want the police to thoroughly examine the car as they could discover some DNA.”
A case has been opened against Aung Khant under Sections 285 (“Negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible matter”), 304a (“Causing death by negligence”), and 337 (“Causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of other”) of the Myanmar Penal Code.
