Myanmar quake: SMART team to return home Monday, says Foreign Minister

NAY PYI TAW (Myanmar): The Special Search and Rescue Team of Malaysia (SMART) to assist earthquake victims in Myanmar will end its operations and return home on Monday. Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said that apart from the search and rescue (SAR) operation by SMART having ended, it needs to be stopped because no more survivors...

RM460,000 worth of blankets and beds Tzu-Chi donated to Myanmar quake victims

GEORGE TOWN: Blankets and folding beds worth RM460,000 from the Buddhist Tzu-Chi Merits Society Malaysia are on their way to the Myanmar Red Cross Society. The society's Penang commissioner Datuk Khoo Boo Leong said the items weighing 7.85 tonnes would be delivered using a military plane on Monday. "They comprise 690 pieces of blankets and 520 pieces of...

Myanmar quake: SMART rescues man trapped for over 72 hours

KUALA LUMPUR: The Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (SMART) successfully rescued a survivor who had been trapped under rubble for 72 hours in Sagaing, Myanmar, on Wednesday (April 2) afternoon. Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the male victim, believed to be in his 40s, was discovered at Worksite K10,...

Myanmar quake: SMART recovers four bodies from rubble

KUALA LUMPUR: The Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (SMART) has recovered four bodies from the rubble caused by the earthquake in Myanmar's Sagaing region. In a statement, the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) reported that two victims - a man and a woman - were retrieved on Monday (March 31), while the bodies of...

Thailand repatriates 4,895 individuals of alleged job scams in Myanmar

BANGKOK/YANGON (Bernama): A total of 4,895 individuals rescued from alleged job scam syndicates in Myanmar have been repatriated to their home countries, according to Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Director-General of the Department of Information and Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nikorndej Balankura, said that according to the information received on March 11...

Eleven pregnant women among hundreds in limbo at Thai-Myanmar border after scams crackdown, group says

BANGKOK (Reuters): Eleven pregnant women are among the more than 2,400 people stuck in limbo on after being pulled out of illicit scam compounds in Myanmar and are in urgent need of medical treatment in Thailand, a civil society group said on Friday. The 11 women are being kept in a camp with harsh living conditions,...

Cops hunt four suspects in alleged murder of restaurant worker

TASEK GELUGOR: Police are tracking down four local men to assist in the investigation into a fatal attack on a Myanmar national which led to his death at a restaurant in Taman Sepadu Jaya early Friday morning. Seberang Perai Utara OCPD ACP Anuar Abdul Rahman said authorities were alerted to the incident at 3.20am by a local man who...

Karen Buddhist army vows to rescue scam victims on Myanmar border

BANGKOK: The Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) on Thursday (Feb 13) vowed to crack down on illegal business operators and rescue victims on the Myanmar border. “From now on, the DKBA will launch a crackdown on illegal establishments in our area of ​​responsibility in Myanmar. If any are found, operators will be expelled and victims will...

Hong Kong woman rescued from Chinese call centre gang in Myanmar

HONG KONG: Thai authorities rescued a Hong Kong woman from a Chinese call centre gang operating on the Myanmar side of the border near Tak, on Feb 2. The rescue of the 31-year-old Hong Kong passport holder was carried out through cooperation between the Royal Thai Army and the Royal Thai Police, following an earlier alert...

China families appeal to free relatives held by scam gangs in Myanmar

BEIJING/BANGKOK/YANGON (Reuters): The abduction and cross-border rescue had all the makings of the kind of action script struggling Chinese actor Wang Xing had hoped to land - only not as a reality star. Wang, 31, flew to Bangkok earlier this month after getting an unsolicited offer to join a film that was shooting in Thailand. There was...