Thandwe residents concerned over fate of missing relatives

By Admin 18 Jul 2024

DMG Newsroom
18 July 2024, Thandwe

Forty-five civilians have gone missing during fighting between Myanmar’s military regime and the Arakkha Army (AA) in Arakan State’s Thandwe Township, according to a radio programme of local radio station Lay Waddy FM, which is helping people find their missing relatives.

Fighting has been raging near Thandwe Township’s Ngapali Town since early June. Many residents have fled due to junta bombardments, though some stayed behind to take care of their homes and family members have lost contact with them.

Most of the missing civilians are from Thandwe and Ngapali towns. They include 18 men, 17 women, three children, and seven others whose identities are unknown.

“I haven’t been able to contact my father and brother,” said a female resident of Thandwe Township. “Communications are down and we don’t know where they are now. When I got in contact with them last time, they were finding a vehicle to flee the town. We want to know their whereabouts.”

Communications have been down in and around Thandwe since July 13, after a communications tower was damaged in a junta air attack.

The AA has rescued more than 400 residents trapped in Thandwe, according to sources.

A social activist in Thandwe Township said: “People are concerned as they have lost contact with their relatives left in the town. They might have been rescued by the AA.”

The AA has taken control of Thandwe Town, and the regime is preparing a stand at the Maung Shwe Lay naval base in Thandwe Township, and at Ngapali Beach’s Jeiktaw Ward, where fighting has been raging.

More than 50,000 people have been displaced by three months of fighting in Thandwe Township.