Myanmar mourns earthquake dead with one minute of silence as hopes for survivors fade
'I hope this will be over soon'
Burmese Service have been speaking to eyewitnesses in Mandalay following Friday’s earthquake.
They spoke to a monk who was in the building next to a Sky Villa Condo which partially collapsed during the quake.
“When the quake started, I was in the next building, in a room adjacent to the condo. I heard a loud banging sound from the condo,” he says.
The Sky Villa Condo had four sections, A, B, C and D, he explains. Section D fell over the lake at the back with a loud bang. The rest – A, B and C didn’t collapse entirely but tilted towards the front. He says that when the earthquake hit, he saw “everyone running out”.
“I’ve seen most rescue workers are Chinese, some are Burmese too. In this section here, they saved three people last night. It’s not clear if they were alive, but sounded like those were bodies,” he says.
“I saw at least 30 bodies that were recovered, including those we helped with. I haven’t seen anyone pulled out alive lately. Only dead bodies have been recovered.
“I hope this will be over soon. There are many [bodies] still inside, I think more than a hundred. They haven’t started searching in Sections B and C which are more important. Most of the people were in there. They haven’t started work there.”