Hong Kong rescue team set to begin work in quake-hit Myanmar

A rescue team from Hong Kong headed to the capital of earthquake-stricken Myanmar on Sunday and would survey the situation on the ground first.

The 51-strong team and two search dogs arrived in the country’s biggest city, Yangon, at around 9pm local time on Saturday and embarked on a 10-hour coach journey to the capital Naypyidaw at 3.30am. They were expected to arrive around 1pm on Sunday.

“We will first conduct survey work upon arrival and check with other rescue teams on the current situation before formulating an operations plan,” Deputy Chief Fire Officer Cheu Yu-kok said in a video message on Sunday about eight hours into the journey.

The video also shows supplies being unloaded from a Cathay Pacific Airways charter flight at Yangon airport, with some team members carrying big cardboard boxes. Road conditions appeared to be poor, with cracks on the surface and piles of rubble scattered around.

The death toll from the magnitude 7.7 quake that devastated parts of the Southeast Asian nation exceeded 1,700 on Sunday, according to the military government, which in a rare move requested foreign aid.

  

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