Rescuers in the earthquake-devastated city of Mandalay in Myanmar have miraculously pulled a pregnant woman out of the rubble three days on from the disaster.
The stunning rescue unfolded as day broke in Myanmar with weary emergency workers having toiled through the night to locate any signs of life within the remains of a collapsed building.
Incredible footage captured the moment that rescuers, having clambered atop a mountain of debris to rig up an intricate pulley system, cleared the last pieces of rubble to reach the pregnant victim sealed inside the remains of an apartment.
They carefully extracted her from the makeshift capsule, strapped her to a stretcher to stabilise her spine, and attached the stretcher to a rope.
She was then painstakingly winched down to a second team of rescuers who stood two storeys below, arms outstretched to receive their charge some 60 hours after she was buried alive.
The impressive feat came hours after another pregnant lady was rescued at a second location in Mandalay overnight.
But the rescues came as officials in Myanmar and Thailand admitted they were now discovering more corpses than live victims among the debris, with residents complaining that the air was thick with ‘the smell of death’.
Bodies stuck beneath the remnants of Mandalay’s buildings are rapidly decomposing as temperatures in Myanmar soar above 40 degrees Celsius.
The official death toll in Myanmar rose is rapidly approaching 2,000 as more bodies were extracted from the piles of concrete and twisted metal, the country’s military-led government said this morning.
But the US Geological Survey’s predictive modelling has estimated Myanmar’s death toll could top 10,000 and economic losses could exceed the country’s annual economic output.Â
Rescuers in the earthquake-devastated city of Mandalay in Myanmar have miraculously pulled a pregnant woman out of the rubble
Incredible footage captured the moment that rescuers, having clambered atop a mountain of debris to rig up an intricate pulley system, cleared the last pieces of rubble to reach the pregnant victim
The woman was painstakingly winched down from atop the pile of debris
The woman is received by a group of rescuers and rushed away as shocked onlookers snap photos
Search and rescue operations continue in the wreckage of a collapsed building where dozens of people are still trapped, following earthquakes that struck neighbouring country Myanmar, in BangkokÂ
Rescue workers carry the body of a victim at the site of an under-construction building collapse in Bangkok on March 31, 2025
Women react after hearing of the death of a relative at the site of an under-construction building collapse in Bangkok on March 30, 2025
The 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit at midday Friday, causing widespread damage, including in the capital Naypitaw and the second largest city, Mandalay.
The true number of people killed and injured across the regions hit is thought to be possibly many times the official figures, but with telecommunication outages and extreme challenges to movement around the country, little is known about the damage in many areas.
Government spokesman Major General Zaw Min Tun told state-run MRTV that another 3,400 had been injured and more than 300 were missing.
The earthquake, centred near Mandalay – a city of some 1.5 million – brought down buildings and damaged other infrastructure like the city’s airport.
Large swathes of land in Myanmar have been damaged, while a skyscraper under construction in neighbouring Thailand collapsed. The 7.7 magnitude quake was felt as far as China and India.
Now, three days on, rescuers and officials are working to extract survivors from the worst-hit areas while other teams head for remote rural towns and settlements that were completely cut off after communications went down.
The earthquake struck at the time of Friday prayers for Myanmar’s Muslim minority during the holy month of Ramadan, and some 700 worshippers were killed when mosques collapsed, said Tun Kyi, a member of the steering committee of the Spring Revolution Myanmar Muslim Network.
It was not clear whether they were already included in the official count of casualties.
Tun Kyi said some 60 mosques were damaged or destroyed when the earthquake struck, and videos posted on The Irrawaddy online news site showed several mosques toppling during the quake, and people fleeing from the areas.
In Mandalay, 270 monks were taking a religious exam at the U Hla Thein monastery when the quake hit, crumpling the building.
Rescue workers at the scene Monday said 70 were able to escape, but 50 have already been found dead and 150 are still unaccounted for.
‘We’re really not clear on the scale of the destruction at this stage,’ said Lauren Ellery, deputy director of programs in Myanmar for the International Rescue Committee.
There is a state of emergency in six regions, and Ellery said her teams on the ground and their local partners are currently assessing where needs are the greatest while providing emergency medical care, humanitarian supplies and other assistance.
‘They were talking about a town near Mandalay where 80% of the buildings were reportedly collapsed, but it wasn’t in the news because telecommunications have been slow,’ she said.
‘Even in areas where there isn’t so much impact, our partner reported to us on Saturday that there were landslides stopping them from reaching one of the villages.’
Rescuers search for survivors at the site of a collapsed building following an earthquake in Bangkok, Thailand, 31 March 2025
A Buddhist monk walks near a collapsed pagoda after an earthquake in Mandalay, central Myanmar, Sunday, March 30, 2025
Commuters drive past a building that collapsed, in the aftermath of a strong earthquake, in Mandalay, Myanmar, March 30, 202
Astonishing footage shows the moment a man who was trapped under rubble for 40 hours after the devastating earthquake in Myanmar was rescued alive
The man was pulled out from under the rubble of a collapsed building in the capital Naypyidaw by rescue teams from Singapore and Myanmar on Sunday, the country’s army-run TV reported
Rescuers work with a K9 dog at the site of a building that collapsed, following a strong earthquake, in Bangkok, Thailand
A lack of heavy machinery has slowed search and rescue operations, forcing many to slowly search for survivors by hand in the relentless heat, with daily temperatures above 40 degrees C.
International rescue teams from several countries are now on the scene, including from Russia, China, India and several Southeast Asian countries.
‘It doesn’t matter how long we work. The most important thing is that we can bring hope to the local people,’ said Yue Xin, head of the first detachment of the China Search and Rescue Team, according to China’s Xinhua news agency.
On Sunday, an Indian team jackhammered through slabs of fallen concrete at one site in Mandalay, cutting rebar reinforcement with an angle grinder powered by a portable generator as they sought to reach lower levels.
They could be seen bringing out one covered body and loading it into an ambulance.
The European Union, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and others have announced millions of dollars in aid, either directly or through local partners and international organizations.
US President Donald Trump has said Washington would help, but so far there has been no known assistance to Myanmar.
A small number of American military personnel were sent to assist in Bangkok, where the earthquake shook the Thai capital and killed at least 18 people, many at a construction site where a partially built high-rise collapsed.
Emergency crews using cranes and dog sniffers on Monday continued a desperate search for people believed buried under the remnants of the partially-constructed skyscraper.
Besides the 18 people already confirmed dead, another 33 have been reported injured and 78 remain missing in Thailand.
Most are believed to be at the construction site near the popular Chatuchak market.
Heavy equipment was shut down and authorities urged onlookers to be silent as they used machines to try and detect any signs of life from under the rubble.
Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt told reporters at the scene that signs had been detected Sunday night, though experts could not determine whether it had been a machine error.
Nonetheless, he said he still had hope survivors would be found.
Sittipunt said rescuers are not giving up even as the conventional wisdom 72-hour window for finding people alive is almost closed, referencing survival stories from the brutal earthquakes in Turkey in 2023.
‘The search will continue even after 72 hours because in Turkey, people who have been trapped for a week have survived. The search has not been cancelled,’ Chadchart said.
‘Even if one life is saved, it is worth all the effort,’ he said.
Relatives and friends of missing workers are comforted by mental health crisis officials during a search operation at the site of a building that collapsed following an earthquake in Bangkok, Thailand, 31 March 2025
Myanmar and Indian rescuers search for victims at the U Hla Thein Buddhist monastery after an earthquake in Mandalay, Myanmar, 31 March 2025
Thai rescue teams work to rescue and recover those trapped in the rubble of a collapsed construction building on March 31, 2025 in Bangkok
Relatives wait for the recovery of their loved ones as search and rescue operations continue in the wreckage of a collapsed high-ride building, following a magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck neighbouring country Myanmar, in Bangkok, Thailand, on March 30, 2025
Myanmar, also known as Burma, sits on the Sagaing Fault, a major north-south fault that separates the India plate and the Sunda plate.
The earthquake occurred when a 200-kilometre (125-mile) section of the fault ruptured, causing widespread damage along a wide swath of territory down the middle of the country, including Sagaing, Mandalay, Magway and Bago regions and Shan State.
Beyond the earthquake damage, rescue efforts are complicated by the bloody civil war roiling much of the country, including in quake-affected areas.
In 2021, the military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking what has since turned into significant armed resistance.
Government forces have lost control of much of Myanmar, and many places are dangerous or impossible for aid groups to reach.
More than 3 million people have been displaced by the fighting and nearly 20 million are in need, according to the United Nations.
Ellery, of the International Rescue Committee, noted that the area worst hit by the earthquake was already seriously damaged by flooding last year in which many lost homes, and is also where many of the country’s internally displaced people have sought refuge.
Since the earthquake, many people have been sleeping outside, either because their homes have been destroyed or because they are worried that the continuing aftershocks might bring them down.
With the monsoon rains starting in May, finding people shelter was going to be a major challenge going ahead, she said.
‘But right now we’re focused on the immediate response,’ she said.
