Tug sinking kills five in Myanmar

Five people were killed after a tug pulling a log-laden barge sank in Myanmar’s Chindwin River on Sunday, May 26.

Local police officials said the tug sank after it collided with a cargo vessel sailing in the same direction near the Chindwin Bridge in the early morning hours (local time) of Sunday.

First responders who arrived at the scene managed to rescue only six of the tug’s occupants.

The bodies of the five remaining crewmembers were later found unresponsive and were soon afterward pronounced dead.

A survivor told the local press that the tug’s occupants who perished had all been seated at the forward section of the vessel at the time of the collision.

Being seated at the rear had allowed the other occupants to jump into the water at the first sign of danger, the same survivor recounted.