The death toll from the massive earthquake in Myanmar has passed 1,600, the ruling junta there said on Saturday, with more than 3,400 injured.
A statement from the junta's information team said 1,644 people are known to have died in Friday's shallow 7.7-magnitude quake, with 3,408 injured.
President Xi Jinping has extended condolences to Myanmar's leader, and a rescue team from Yunnan Province – that borders Myanmar – arrived on Saturday morning at Yangon in Myanmar to provide assistance.
Xinhua news agency said the only highway linking Myanmar's Yangon in the south and central Naypyidaw and Mandalay was severely damaged.
The shallow 7.7-magnitude quake struck northwest of the city of Sagaing in central Myanmar in the early afternoon on Friday, followed minutes later by a 6.7-magnitude aftershock.
The quake destroyed buildings, downed bridges, and buckled roads across swathes of Myanmar, with severe damage reported in the second-biggest city, Mandalay.
Around 10 more deaths have so far been confirmed in Bangkok, where rescuers laboured through the night searching for workers trapped when a 30-storey skyscraper under construction collapsed, reduced in seconds to a pile of rubble and twisted metal by the force of the shaking.
It was the biggest quake to hit Myanmar in over a century, according to US geologists, and the tremors were powerful enough to severely damage buildings across Bangkok, hundreds of kilometres away from the epicentre.
Up to 100 workers were still unaccounted for at the building, close to the Chatuchak weekend market that is a magnet for tourists. (Agencies)
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Last updated: 2025-03-29 HKT 22:22
Myanmar quake death toll passes 1,600
2025-03-29 HKT 12:18
