Myanmar: 12 people missing after boat capsizes, say reports

Twelve people including three members of the security forces are missing after a boat capsized and sank in a river in the Sagaing region of northwestern Myanmar staterun media reported on ThursdayA report in the staterun Myanma Alinn Daily said six civilians three workers and the security force personnel were missing after the vessel was caught on Tuesday morning in strong currents in the Chindwin River near Panset village in Kale districtThe report said the vessel was part of a goodscarrying convoy that came from further north and that rescue operations were ongoingA village elder from Panset told The Associated Press that a group of 11 vessels guarded by security forces had docked there on Monday night and that the missing included three university students and two other people from his village He said he did not know how many people had been aboard He spoke on the condition of anonymity because he feared arrest by the militarySagaing is a stronghold of armed resistance to the ruling military which seized power in February 2021 from the elected government of Aung San Suu KyiThe takeover was met with peaceful demonstrations that were quashed with lethal force by the army and police Many opponents of military rule then took up arms and large parts of the country are now embroiled in a conflict that some UN experts have called a civil warThe Chindwin River which flows through Sagaing has become one of the major routes to transport food reinforcements and equipment for the army to carry out major offensives in the region in some cases burning down villages and displacing hundreds of thousands of people It is also known for carrying jade downriver from mines in northern MyanmarLocally formed resistance groups along the river often attack military vessels and convoys firing from shoreHowever Panset village is one of the few considered sympathetic to the military government and its residents have been accused of assisting in the armys counterinsurgency operationsSeveral independent Myanmar media outlets which operate underground because of repression by the military claimed that as many as 100 people were missing from the sunken boatOne of the sources for the claim which was not readily verifiable was a local resistance groupIn October 2016 a vessel carrying more than 200 passengers capsized in the Chindwin River in nearby Kani township and more than 70 people diedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever