Floods triggered by torrential monsoon rains have killed at least 10 people in Myanmar in the last 48 hours, state media and officials reported Sunday.
At least three people are feared dead in Thibaw, also known as Hsipaw, northern Shan state, after a 100-year-old bridge collapsed on Saturday.
The same day, six people were killed by flash floods in Thabeikkyin, central Mandalay Region, the Ministry of Information said.
A 19-year-old boy also died in Muse, Shan State, on Friday.
Rescue workers have been dispatched to Thibaw to search for more victims – Eleven Media reported as many as 30 had been swept away.
Htet Htet Oo, a 17-year-old girl, had just passed her matriculation exam, according to her mother Nan Aye Lu.
“She brought her younger brother to the bridge, as he wanted to see the torrent,” she told Eleven Media.
Both fell under the bridge, but only the young boy survived.
Htun Naing Oo, a 28-year-old firefighter, was killed as he tried to help.
“I heard that… he was pressed down under pieces of the bridge when it broke,” Aye Moon, his mother, said.
Khin Maung Htoo, a 19-year-old reserve firefighter, was also among the dead.
A local government official said each family had been given $100 in compensation.
Western and northern parts of Myanmar have been hit by heavy rainfall in recent days with some areas of Shan State, a mountainous and particularly impoverished region seeing as much as 170mm of rain in the last 24 hours.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said up to 12,000 houses have also been damaged in Sagaing Region and Kachin State during recent rains.
Myanmar is struck by annual monsoon rains that are a lifeline for farmers but can also prove deadly, with landslides and flash floods a common occurrence.
Text / AFP and Eleven Media
Photo / The Ministry of Information
