At least one lacquerware shop has been gutted by fire after a blaze broke out in the tourist town of Nyaung Oo, near Bagan, this morning.
Nobody has been reported injured, thankfully, and there appears to be an unlikely good news story emerging from the disaster.
Photos posted online showing shirtless white dudes helping with efforts to tackle the blaze went viral on social media, with users telling xenophobic groups to “take note”.
Images posted to Facebook by local photographer Michael Riyo showed three foreign men, one wearing a longyi, helping move goods from the store.
They had been liked and shared thousands of times by the afternoon.
“Ma Ba Tha should take note,” wrote Moo Myin, referring to the extremist Buddhist nationalist group known for anti-foreign rhetoric. “Humans are only human if they help each other without discriminating about race and religion.”
Ma Ba Tha, also known as the Committee to Protect Race and Religion, put pressure on the government to push through a series of controversial race and religion laws last year.
“People should learn from them,” wrote Nay Lin on a post by the Irrawaddy Burmese Facebook page. “Others are just taking pictures [of the fire].”
If there’s one thing Myanmar loves, it’s generosity. The country was recently named the world’s most giving for the second year running.
Good on you, white dudes.
