Bangkok, June 1 (EFE).- An explosion in northeastern Myanmar, caused by what was described as the accidental detonation of mining explosives, killed at least 55 people on Monday, wounded dozens more and destroyed numerous homes in an area controlled by an ethnic armed group.
Local outlet Shwe Phee Myay, citing rescue teams, said the victims include 25 women and 30 men from Kaung Tat village, near the border with China’s Yunnan province.
The death toll could rise, as rescuers continue searching for people believed trapped under rubble.
The Ta’ang National Liberation Army acknowledged the explosives were stored by its economic department and said it is investigating the cause of the incident. While it did not provide a confirmed casualty figure, the group said in a statement on its website that an “accidental explosion of soft lead” stored for mining operations occurred Sunday.
The TNLA, one of Myanmar’s most powerful ethnic armed groups, is currently observing a cease-fire with the country’s military, which seized power in a 2021 coup that ended the democratic transition led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and intensified a decades-long civil war.
Linked to the Palaung ethnic group, the TNLA is part of the Brotherhood Alliance, which since late 2023 has controlled the strategic Kokang region along the Chinese border. Illegal mining operations have proliferated there in recent years.
The blast comes at a sensitive moment for Myanmar’s military as it seeks international legitimacy more than five years after the coup and a month after formally dissolving the ruling junta with the swearing-in of coup leader Min Aung Hlaing as president.
That inauguration, on Apr. 10, followed elections organized by the military between December and January. The polls were held amid repression in areas controlled by the armed forces—which control only about half the country—and lacked meaningful opposition participation.
Since the coup, Myanmar has plunged into crisis and international isolation, with more than 22,100 people still detained and over 8,000 killed by the military and security forces, according to figures released Friday by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. EFE
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