Crime Today News
New Delhi: A ‘pancake’ collapse of multiple buildings and houses leading to floors falling one over the other has become a challenge for rescue workers in quake-hit Myanmar with India’s NDRF retrieving 16 bodies so far from the rubble, officials said Tuesday.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) specialists have spread across 13 buildings as part of the ‘Sector D’ disaster rescue plan in Mandalay city and they are still “looking for lives” despite all odds, the officials monitoring the rescue operations from here told PTI.
The teams are conducting search and rescue operations in Mandalay in coordination with fire services of Myanmar, focusing on sites, where victims have been reported missing due to building collapse, the NDRF said in a statement.
“As of April 1, 2025, 16 dead bodies have been retrieved and rescue operation is ongoing,” it added.
Officials said the rescuers were still hopeful to find signs of life.
Miracles do happen as during the Turkiye quake rescue operation in 2023 a life was found on the 17th day after the temblor struck.
Majority of buildings have collapsed like a ‘pancake’ and it is making the task difficult for the rescuers as they have to cut through heavy slabs for hours and lift mounds of rubble through earth movers to look for people who could be alive, the officials said.
Had it been a tilted collapse, the ray of hope is much brighter and the ‘golden hours’ for rescuers to save lives is more, according to quake rescue experts.
The NDRF is also using its four canines who could sniff vital signs of a fainted or unconscious human being, the officials said.
The federal disaster contingency force has also been directed to assist local authorities in distributing relief items to the victims.
India has dispatched a team of 80 NDRF rescuers to its neighbouring country following the massive 7.7 Richter quake that struck on March 28.
Press reports emerging from the disaster-hit country quoted the head of Myanmar’s military government, Senior Gen Min Aung Hlaing, saying 2,719 people have been found dead and 441 were missing till now. About 4,500 others have been injured.
India launched ‘Operation Brahma’ soon after the quake rattled large parts of Myanmar including capital Naypyitaw and the second largest city of Mandalay with medicines, ration, food and tents being airlifted and shipped to the country through its military aircraft and ships.
The neighbours share a 1,643-km-long international front.
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