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Over 100 feared dead in floods



August 14, 1997

BANGKOK POST
BURMA

Over 100 feared dead in floods 

Tak, Mae Sot

More than a hundred people are feared dead and several others missing in the 
floods sweeping over villages along Pegu Division and the Mon state of Burma 
over the last two weeks, a border source said yesterday.

Heavy rains hit Burmese towns late last month, causing the Salween, Sittaung 
and Jaing rivers to overflow and inundate hundreds of villages along river 
banks.

Trade has been hit hard by the flooding and the transportation of goods from 
Myawaddy to Rangoon only resumed on Tuesday after a halt of a week, sources 
said.

Six bridges along Pegu division and Mon state were reportedly damaged by the 
floods, they added.

A Burmese trader from Moulmein who crossed the border to Mae Sot said 
yesterday that train services on the Pegu-Paung route have been halted for 
over two weeks.

He said he was stuck in Rangoon during the floods and took boats and buses to 
get here when the water levels started to reduce.

"Thousands of families living along the three rivers are left homeless. Over 
two hundred people went missing and a hundred more are believed to have been 
killed in the flood," he said.

However, no official report of flooding casualties from Burmese authorities 
has been released.