Rescuers pulled a man alive from the ruins of a hotel in Myanmar five days after the deadly earthquake, which leveled entire neighborhoods in the Asian country.
As announced by the fire department and the junta, the 26-year-old man was rescued from the rubble of the hotel.
Aye Chan Thar in the capital Naypyidaw thanks to the efforts of rescuers from Turkey and Myanmar after midnight local time, a few hours after the rescue of a 63-year-old woman.
His rescue has given a glimmer of hope to Myanmar amid the tragedy, as the death toll from the worst earthquake to hit the country in a century has exceeded 2.880 and is expected to exceed 3.000, as stated yesterday by the head of the junta, Min Aung Hlaing, who declared seven days of mourning in the country.
Race to send aid to Myanmar ahead of monsoon
Humanitarian organizations have appealed to governments around the world to expedite the dispatch of aid ahead of the monsoons.
Earthquake survivors in flattened neighborhoods of Myanmar's second largest city, Mandalay, and Sagaing spent another night in the open air as bodies trapped under rubble were pulled from the disaster zone.
Shortages of water, food and medicine are severe, and monsoon rains could hit Myanmar in May. “Rescuers are still pulling people out of the rubble and hospitals are overwhelmed with the injured. The physical and mental scars of this disaster will take decades to heal,” said Arif Noor, Myanmar Country Director for the humanitarian agency Care.
"We must act quickly to provide humanitarian assistance before the impending monsoons, which will exacerbate this horrific crisis," said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
Fears of up to 10.000 dead in Myanmar
The death toll has reached 2.886, while the injured are 4.639 and the missing are 373, China's state news agency Xinhua reported today, citing the information service of Myanmar's State Council.
"Among the missing, most are presumed dead. There is little hope that they are alive," said the leader of Myanmar's junta.
Some agencies say the unofficial number of victims could reach as high as 10.000.
Source: iefimerida.gr
