Rescue teams in Myanmar managed to pull out a 26-year-old man who had been trapped under the rubble of a collapsed hotel in the capital Naypyidaw for five days, the Associated Press reported, quoted by BTA.
Meanwhile, representatives of the military junta that rules Myanmar announced that the death toll in the powerful earthquake that shook the country on Friday had risen to 2,886 people, and the injured have now exceeded 4,600, DPA reports.
This morning, Turkish and local rescuers managed to pull Naing Lin Tun from the ruins of the hotel where he worked. The man's location was determined using an endoscopic camera. After rescuers confirmed that he was alive, a nine-hour rescue operation began.
Nain Lin Tun was taken to hospital on a stretcher after being trapped under the rubble for nearly 108 hours. The local fire department released video of the rescue operation, showing the man covered in dust, looking weak but conscious.
The 7.7-magnitude earthquake, which struck near Myanmar's second-largest city, Mandalay, destroyed thousands of buildings, bridges and roads. The tremor also hit neighboring Thailand, where a skyscraper under construction collapsed in the capital, Bangkok. Rescuers pulled another body from the rubble of the building, bringing the death toll in Thailand to 22 and the number of injured to 34.
Myanmar, torn by civil war, suffered another blow with the earthquake, which further deepened the already severe humanitarian crisis in the country. According to the United Nations, even before the quake, more than 3 million Myanmar residents were displaced, and more than 20 million people were in need of humanitarian assistance.
The Three Brotherhood Alliance, one of the major armed groups in Myanmar, has declared a unilateral one-month ceasefire to facilitate humanitarian operations. The opposition parallel government has also declared a unilateral ceasefire, but attacks have continued even after the earthquake.