KUALA LUMPUR: Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (Smart) members retrieved the bodies of two victims of the recent earthquake in Myanmar from separate sites today.
The team, operating under the Malaysian Humanitarian Aid Mission (MAS-01), retrieved the first body from a collapsed private school.
A posting on the Smart Facebook account said operations at all three sites the team is working on began at 9am.
Some 45 minutes later, the team’s cameras detected the presence of a victim at the private school.
“Working in collaboration with Myanmar Fire Service Department personnel, rescuers carefully extricated the body of a female teacher at 12.45pm.
“At a second location, a mosque, a thorough search was conducted, but no victims were found trapped under the debris,” the post said.
However, at the third operations site, a shoplot, proved to be more challenging for the team as they located a man trapped on the shop’s lower floor.
“Rescuers worked diligently to reach the victim, a 57-year-old man who had been trapped under the rubbles since Saturday.
“His body was successfully retrieved at 4.50pm,” it said.
It said the remains of both victims were handed over to local authorities for further action.
“(The team) concluded operations at 6pm and is set to resume the mission at 8.30am (tomorrow),” the post read.
The post, which was accompanied by several pictures of the Smart team at work, received hundreds of comments thanking Malaysia for assisting in the Myanmar earthquake search and rescue efforts.
Many netizens also praised the MAS-01 team for their dedication to help on the rescue efforts even though Hari Raya Aidilfitri was being celebrated.
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