Myanmar earthquake survivor rescued by Chinese team reunites with family after treatment

Myanmar's earthquake survivor Ko San Lwin, who was trapped for nearly 125 hours under rubble before being saved by Chinese rescuers, reunited with his family on Saturday after receiving medical treatment at a local hospital.

Ko San Lwin, a 52-year-old truck driver, was in a particularly good mood as his doctor on Saturday told him that he recovered well and could be discharged from the hospital. After three days of rehabilitation treatment, he could finally share his nightmare of nearly 125 hours under earthquake debris with a little ease.

At about 17:40 local time on April 2, a Chinese rescue team successfully detected his whereabouts and rescued him from the destroyed Golden Country Hotel in Mandalay.

He said he was lucky as the fallen ceiling hit the bed and formed a narrow survival space for him after the devastating earthquake struck on March 28. 

It was completely dark around him. Without knowing how long it had been, he stopped eating and planned to give up.

"I gave up and decided to fast, but later I heard two voices nearby. I found hope and decided to eat again," he recalled.

He finally heard the sound of the rescuers talking to him and carrying out their rescue work with an electric saw.

He said an interpreter communicated with him, so he knew from the beginning that it was the Chinese rescuers who saved him.

Ko San Lwin was treated in Mandalar Hospital, a private facility in Mandalay.

After the discharge from the hospital, Ko San Lwin and his wife planned to stay in Mandalay for one night, and then go home in the countryside to reunite with their sons.

Chinese rescue teams have saved nine people after the Myanmar earthquake occurred.

Myanmar earthquake survivor rescued by Chinese team reunites with family after treatment

The death toll from a landfill collapse in the central Philippine city of Cebu has risen to eight by Monday morning as search and rescue operations continued for another 28 missing people.

The landfill collapse occurred on Thursday as dozens of sanitation workers were working at the site. The disaster has already caused injuries of 18 people.

Family members of the missing people said the rescue progress is slow, and the hope for the survival of their loved ones is fading.

"For me, maybe I’ve accepted the worst result already because the garbage is poisonous and yesterday, it was raining very hard the whole day. Maybe they’ve been poisoned. For us, alive or dead, I hope we can get their bodies out of the garbage rubble," said Maria Kareen Rubin, a family member of a victim.

Families have set up camps on high ground near the landfill, awaiting news of their relatives. Some people at the site said cries for help could still be heard hours after the landfill collapsed, but these voices gradually faded away.

Bienvenido Ranido, who lost his wife in the disaster, said he can't believe all that happened.

"After they gave my wife oxygen, my kids and I were expecting that she would be saved that night because she was still alive. But the night came and till the next morning, they didn't manage to save her," he said.

Death toll in central Philippine landfill collapse rises to eight