Three children go missing in Sittwe

23 Oct 2022

DMG Newsroom
23 October 2022, Sittwe

Family members are worried about the fate of three Grade 4 students who have been missing since Saturday night in the Arakan State capital Sittwe.

The three students have been identified as Maung Aung Lin Thu, Maung Hein Htet Win Naing and Maung Zwe Phone Khant, from Sittwe’s Pyidawtha Ward.

“Zwe Phone Khant and Hein Htet Win Naing picked up my son from home on a bicycle at around 11 a.m.,” said Daw Khin Su, the mother of Maung Aung Lin Thu. “I didn’t know when the two boys arrived at my home because I was cooking alms. My brother told me that my son was picked up by two boys on a bicycle.”

When the three of them did not return home, family members found the bicycle they were riding locked up at the entrance of View Point Beach, but they could not find the students, Daw Khin Su told DMG.

“My son always sleeps next to me at night. He used to play in my neighbourhood. I feel so bad because my son is missing,” she said.

Family members reportedly filed a complaint about the disappearance of the three boys at the Sittwe Myoma police station at about 11:30 p.m. on Saturday.

“I am worried about my son’s fate; I don’t want to live in this world [without him],” said Daw Thidar Aung, the mother of Maung Hein Htet Win Naing. “His father is currently assigned to Dawei, Tanintharyi Region, and he is now coming back to Sittwe. If something has happened to him, I will be heartbroken.”

Elders from the neighbourhood and local rescue groups are currently searching for the missing boys.

“We have been searching for the missing children since family members called our team at around 6 o’clock yesterday and asked for help,” said Ko Thargi Phyo, an information officer for the Shwe Yaung Myitta Foundation, which has a local rescue team in Sittwe. “We have been carrying out a search and rescue operation since then, but nothing has changed. We are now planning to conduct a search operation near Thechaung Village.”

Daw Khin Phyo Wai, the mother of Maung Zwe Phone Khant, said police told the family that three children were seen in the waters off View Point Beach on CCTV at about 11 a.m. on Saturday.

“Police phoned us that three boys were seen floating in the water on Point Beach at around 11 a.m. on October 22. We are now preparing to carry out a search operation near Barsa Village,” she explained.