23 South Africans who fell victim to human trafficking in Myanmar arrived home yesterday. DIRCO through the South African Embassy in Thailand, with the support of other departments and agencies, managed the complex process. Timing was everything in the rescue as the survivors touched down less than a day before Myanmar was struck by 2 earthquakes.
Image: DIRCO
Twenty three trafficked South Africans narrowly escaped Myanmar's two major earthquakes today, when they were repatriated home just hours before the natural disaster struck the area where they were held captive.
In an unbelievable rescue mission in which timing was everything, the 23 South Africans were repatriated home yesterday (Thursday) from a facility in Myanmar where they were forced to work in online scam centres..
The Department of International Relations and Cooperation's (Dirco) Chrispin Phiri said Dirco managed to repatriate 23 of 32 South Africans who were human trafficked to Myanmar under the pretense of employment, and held captive and forced to operate scams. Seven other South Africans had returned home earlier and Dirco is still investigating if the remaining two of the 32 are South African.
Myanmar, located in the western portion of mainland Southeast Asia and bordered by China to the north and northeast and Thailand to the southeast, was violently hit by two earthquakes, the first, a strong 7.7 magnitude earthquake followed by an aftershock measuring 6.4 magnitude hit it. The earthquakes are said to have claimed three lives in Myanmar when a mosque collapsed.
Myanmar, one of Asia’s poorest nations, is meanwhile grappling with the devastating effects of a civil war that erupted following a military coup in 2021 leaving it unable to properly handle major natural disasters such as the two earthquakes.
Motorists pick up pieces of a damaged road in Naypyidaw on March 28, after an earthquake in central Myanmar. A powerful earthquake rocked central Myanmar on March 28, buckling roads in capital Naypyidaw, damaging buildings and forcing people to flee into the streets in neighbouring Thailand.
Image: AFP
Meanwhile tremors from the two earthquakes were felt as far as Bangkok and China, swaying buildings in the central business area. Stories on TikTok say that the tremor was also felt in Chiang Mai and Pattaya.
In Bangkok one person has been reported dead and dozens trapped under rabble when the earthquake also triggered the collapse of buildings in Thailand.
A South African living in Bangkok, Anton S described on a FaceBook post that the earthquake's ripple effects were terrifying.
“I experienced the earthquake from 38th floor of my Condo just now - it had to be one of the most terrifying moments of my life ... When I started hearing this bizarre noise coming through the roof and building, followed by cracks in my walls and ceiling, and seconds later, feeling the entire building swaying like it was about to fall over . . It was scary.“
He said all 47 floors of apartments evacuated on foot in such a calm and orderly way.
"I heard it and I was sleeping in the house, I ran as far as I could in my pyjamas out of the building," Duangjai, a resident of the popular northern Thailand tourist city Chiang Mai, told AFP.
Chunks of ceilings fell from buildings and roads buckled in Myanmar capital Naypyidaw, a sprawling, purpose-built city with highways up to 20 lanes wide, according to AFP journalists.
A team of AFP journalists were at the National Museum in Naypyidaw when the earthquake struck and the building began shaking.
Pieces fell from the ceiling and walls cracked as uniformed staff ran outside, some of them trembling and tearful, others grabbing cellphones to try to contact loved ones.
The ground vibrated violently for around half a minute before settling.
There were no immediate reports of casualties after the quakes but they caused panic in nearby cities in northern Thailand and down to capital Bangkok.
Sai, a 76-year-old Chiang Mai resident, was working at a minimart when the shop started the shake.
"I quickly rushed out of the shop along with other customers," he said.
"This is the strongest tremor I’ve experienced in my life."
The quake damaged buildings in Bangkok and forced the suspension of some metro and light rail services in the city.
Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said on Friday she had interrupted an official visit to the southern island of Phuket to hold an "urgent meeting" after the quake, according to a post on X.
Tremors were also felt in China's southwest Yunnan province, according to Beijing's quake agency, which said the jolt measured 7.9 in magnitude.
Earthquakes are relatively common in Myanmar, where six strong quakes of 7.0 magnitude or more struck between 1930 and 1956 near the Sagaing Fault, which runs north to south through the centre of the country, according to the USGS.
A powerful 6.8-magnitude earthquake in the ancient capital Bagan in central Myanmar killed three people in 2016, also toppling spires and crumbling temple walls at the tourist destination.
The breakneck pace of development in Myanmar's cities, combined with crumbling infrastructure and poor urban planning, has also made the country's most populous areas vulnerable to earthquakes and other disasters, experts say.
The impoverished Southeast Asian nation has a strained medical system, especially in its rural states.
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