At Least 15 People Drowned During Temple Festival In Myanmar - Reports

BANGKOK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd November, 2021) At least 15 people drowned after being swept away by a tidal wave during a temple festival on an island in south-east Myanmar, the country's media reported Sunday.

The incident occurred during the annual temple festival in Myanmar's Mon state, which attracts hundreds of local residents and pilgrims from other states. The temple is built on an island and can be reached on foot via a stone pathway that gets covered by water during high tide, or by boat.

Several pilgrims crossing over to the island on foot tried to climb into a nearby boat, causing it to collide with another boat, after which both of them sank and people got carried away by a tidal wave, the Eleven Media news portal said.

The rescue services saved eight people and took out of the water the bodies of 15 victims, among which were a Buddhist monk, two civilian men and 12 women, including a nine-year-old girl, the news said, citing a local resident. Several groups of pilgrims that arrived together to the temple reported some of their friends missing, according to Eleven Media.

The military, the police, firefighter brigades, members of the Red Cross and local volunteers are engaged in the ongoing rescue operation in the Mon state, the news said.