Four dead, three missing after Myanmar dam overflow

Floods from a dam breach in Central Myanmar has left four people dead and three missing, a ministry official confirmed Friday, the first casualties reported two days after a portion of the levee collapsed from heavy monsoon rains.

The deceased were three men and one woman, said Phyu Lei Lei Tun, a director at the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement.

"According to the information we got as of this morning, four people were killed and three went missing during the floods," she told AFP.

A large swathe of central Bago region has been inundated after the Swar Chaung dam spillway collapsed, causing a deluge of water to drain out of the levee into surrounding villages and farmland.

The intense flood waters devastated the rural flatland region where more than 60,000 people reside primarily in easily damaged bamboo and wooden houses.

While some were able to wade through chest-deep water on the first day to get to higher ground, many families are still stranded as search and rescue efforts led by the military attempted to reach them on Friday.

Phyu Lei Lei Tun confirmed that more than 36,000 people were displaced and residing in 68 temporary shelter camps set up in monasteries on higher ground.

This dam breach comes just weeks after a Laos dam collapsed, causing at least 35 people to be killed while scores remain missing.

Southeast Asia's monsoon season often brings heavy rains to the region, causing widespread flash floods in Myanmar that recently forced 150,000 people to flee their homes.

Ghost ship in Myanmar waters earlier towed by Indonesian-manned vessel: navy
Yangon (AFP) Sept 1, 2018 - A stranded vessel empty of crew and goods that was found in Myanmar's waters this week was being towed by a ship with 13 Indonesian nationals before it became unmoored, the Myanmar Navy said.

Fishermen came across the rusted and empty vessel, bearing the name "Sam Rataulangi PB 1600", drifting in the Gulf of Martaban, about 11 kilometres (seven miles) off the coast of Myanmar's commercial capital.

Myanmar Navy personnel boarded the vessel to investigate the situation this week, and shed some light on their search in a post on the navy's official Facebook page late Friday.

"It was the view that the ship could have been towed by another ship after two cables... were found at its head", the post said.

The navy's coastal radar records showed the movement of two ships on Sunday and Monday in the Yangon and Sittaung rivers -- which run into the Gulf of Martaban.

Based on these findings, the navy scoured the waters for a second ship and found the "Independence" vessel, carrying 13 Indonesian crew members, about 80 kilometres from Yangon's shores.

After questioning the crew members, the navy discovered that the Independence departed Jakarta on August 13, towing the old vessel bound for a ship-breaking factory in Bangladesh, the Facebook post said.

"They faced bad weather when they arrived south of Yangon River", the navy said.

"The cables attached to the ship broke, and the ship was floating along with the tide and it was difficult to continue its journey."

Old and unseaworthy vessels are often towed to Bangladesh's southern Chittagong province, which houses a thriving -- and controversial -- ship-breaking industry.

According to the Marine Traffic website, which lists the movements of ships around the globe, the vessel was built in 2001 and had a deadweight of 26,500 tonnes.

The navy said the investigation is ongoing.

An official from the Indonesia Foreign Ministry confirmed Saturday that they had received word of this case and said the embassy in Yangon was handling it.

"It is the boat that was arrested; the Indonesians are just the boat crew," Lalu Muhammad Iqbal, director at the ministry's Indonesian citizens protection department, told AFP.

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