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| Southeast Asia |
| News blackout on Myanmar bomb victims |
| 2005-05-09 |
| YANGON (AFP) - Military-ruled Myanmar has imposed a blackout on news of casualties from Saturday's bomb blasts after official reports of 11 dead, but concern mounted that the toll was substantially higher. Security throughout the capital was also boosted amid fears of new attacks, with businesses ordered shuttered by 6:00 pm and stringent new measures put in place at government offices and banks. Doctors at Yangon General Hospital, admitted they had been ordered not to speak to journalists about the numbers of dead, as others who had witnessed the blasts said it was unlikely that all 162 declared wounded had survived the bombings at two shopping malls and a trade centre. "A news blackout has been imposed," one doctor at the hospital told AFP on Monday. A senior health official compiling data from the blast added to the secrecy. "We are in no position to say anything at this point," he said when asked if the toll had risen. Myanmar's junta routinely restricts information on sensitive incidents such as bombings, clashes between authorities and the pro-democracy opposition and even natural disasters if it feels the data would further harm the isolated government's reputation. Senior Thai officials in Bangkok said Monday 21 people, all Myanmar nationals, were killed in the blasts. "The death toll increased from 11 to 21, with 40 seriously injured and several others with minor injuries," a member of Thailand's National Security Council told AFP after the council was briefed on the Yangon attacks. A Western diplomat voiced scepticism about the official toll. "Do these figures represent reality or just the start of reality? We do not know," the diplomat told AFP. "The toll might have changed but there have been no official communiques yet." Within hours of the multiple bombings -- the worst to hit Yangon in decades -- witnesses at the three blast sites said they saw dozens of dead, including many with severed limbs and heads, and many more wounded. "I saw several truckloads of injured being taken away" from Junction Eight shopping centre, where one of the bombs exploded at a grocery store, the owner of a nearby shop said. He said police who had used his shop to phone in reports immediately after the blast put the preliminary Junction Eight death toll at six, but he added that the figure almost certainly climbed, especially given the grave condition of the wounded. Private clinics nearby were also ordered by government officials not to treat the blast victims but instead send all wounded to government hospitals, the shopowner said. "I am sure the government figure is very, very much deflated," he said. Officials at eastern Yangon's North Okkalapa hospital, the other main facility taking bomb casualties, stuck to the junta's toll of three dead at that hospital. Yangon General had reported eight dead. On Sunday a doctor there said all 162 wounded were in good condition, but did not elaborate. Extra security had been posted at the two hospitals and some hospital staff at Yangon General told AFP they were under government orders to refuse to let family members transfer injured relatives to private hospitals. Authorities, who have blamed the attacks on an alliance of ethnic rebel groups and pro-democracy exiles, have ordered all shopping centres in Yangon to remain closed this week. Compounding the tension, large businesses such as stores and restaurants were also ordered closed Monday by 6:00 pm, with late-night trade forbidden until further notice, a restaurant owner told AFP. Security was also tightened at state-run banks and government offices, where employees were being subjected to searches. The blast sites remained closed off, although shopkeepers at Junction Eight were allowed inside to assess damage to their property. Buddhist monks were also brought in to conduct a cleansing ceremony to rid the site of evil spirits after Saturday's carnage. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #1 Given Yangon's location, I'd be inclined to think it was a problem similar to Thailand's. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2005-05-09 12:09 |