Man rescued from rubble in Myanmar five days after devastating magnitude-7.7 quake

A 26-year-old man has been pulled from the rubble in Myanmar’s capital Naypyidaw, five days after the country was struck by a devastating 7.7-magnitude earthquake.

Local and Turkish rescue crews located the man, Naing Lin Tun, and established that he was still alive using an endoscopic camera.

They then made a hole through the rubble of the hotel where he worked and brought him to safety on Wednesday morning, almost 108 hours after he was buried.  

The rescue operation took more than nine hours, according to the state-run MRTV.

Five days after the deadly earthquake, hopes are fading of finding other survivors, with rescue crews hampered by the country’s ongoing civil war, as well as by the severe damage the quake has caused to roads and bridges.

MRTV reported on Wednesday that the death toll in Myanmar has risen to 2,886, with another 4,639 people injured.

In neighbouring Thailand, which was also affected, authorities said that at least 22 people had been killed.

The death toll in Myanmar is expected to rise above 3,000 on Wednesday, said Min Aung Hlaing, the junta chief who seized power in a military coup in 2021.

Humanitarian groups have called for a ceasefire between the military and various armed ethnic groups to facilitate aid deliveries.

Although some rebel groups have announced unilateral ceasefires, reports suggest that the junta is still launching attacks in areas damaged by the earthquake.

Tom Andrews, the UN’s special rapporteur for human rights in Myanmar, said the military attacks must stop.

“The focus in Myanmar must be on saving lives, not taking them,” he said.

Friday’s earthquake has worsened an already dire humanitarian crisis in Myanmar.

Even before the disaster, nearly 20 million people were in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the United Nations.