After an eight-hour operation following the deadly 7.7-magnitude earthquake on Friday that has killed about 1,700 people, a man was freed from a collapsed building in Myanmar by Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) personnel and local rescuers on Sunday ( Mar 30 ).
Around 1am, SCDF’s Operation Lionheart group began search and rescue operations in the Zebuthiri Township in Naypyidaw, according to a Facebook post. The team then examined a crisis site along Aungmyay Theinkha road, where two three-storey private houses had collapsed.
No signs of life were found, according to firefighters, despite using two cats and life-detection tools to find possible victims.
The crew then responded to a three-story, partially collapsed home creating along Ngu Wah Road after a man was discovered trapped within.
The group arrived on time and walked through a small section to save the person trapped beneath the concrete slabs, according to SCDF, adding that the man was informed and able to communicate with the local volunteers from Naypyidaw Fire Service Department and Myanmar Fire Services Department.
The group kept in touch with the victim throughout the recovery operation, and ocean was reportedly given to him through a plastic tube that had been inserted into the crevices between the concrete slabs.
According to SCDF, cutting and fracturing tools were used to break through the man’s caught tiles.