Blind man and mental ill person stranded in village fire

15 Jul 2019

Khaing Roe La and Cha Lu Aung | DMG

15 July, Sittwe

A clash broke out at a mountain range east of Nwayonetaung village in Buthidaung Township on Saturday, houses caught fire and villagers had fled to safety but an old blind man and a mental ill person were left stranded in the village, said the village administrator.

An 80-year old man was left in the village because there was no one to carry him and a 40-year old person with mental illness was left in the village because the person didn’t follow other villagers fleeing from the village, said U San Tun Kyaw, administrator of Nwayonetaung village.

Villagers couldn’t rescue the two people because of the fighting near the village, local residents said.

The Tatmadaw said that an AA troop set fire to two houses, a pigsty and a cattle-pen after the skirmish with the Tatmadaw near Nwayonetaung village in the afternoon of 13 July.

But, the AA’s spokesperson Khaing Thukha responded by saying that the AA did not set the fires and the Tatmadaw soldiers did it.

A villager who asked not to be named echoed the AA’s spokesperson saying that the Tatmadaw troop torched the houses.

“Over an hour after the fighting, the Tatmadaw troop came from Uyintha village and set fire to houses in our village. I do not know exactly the number of houses that caught fire. It is a place where about 20 houses are located,” the villager said.

There are at least 180 houses in Nwayonetaung village. The village population is about 600. During the house fires, villagers fled to Zedi Taung, Ohe Phauk, Gwa Sone and Sin Khone Tine villages.

On 5 July, a Tatmadaw troop torched houses in Amyet Taung village in Rathedaung Township, the fires destroyed over ten houses, villagers said. But, the Tatmadaw denied the accusation that they were the arsonists.