285 killed during Myanmar’s water festival

By Kyaw Ye Lynn

YANGON, Myanmar

Nearly 300 people were killed during the New Year water festival, official media said Tuesday.

The state-run newspaper on Tuesday reported 285 people were killed and 1,073 others injured as 1,200 crimes and accidents occurred across the country during the four-day annual Thingyan Water Festival.

“Compared to last year’s figures of 967 crimes, 272 deaths and 1,086 injured cases, 233 more cases and 13 more deaths occurred in this year’s water festival,” said the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper.

The commercial capital, Yangon, had 44 fatalities, followed by the Bago region with 37 and the country’s second city, Mandalay, had 36 deaths.

The Yangon region recorded the highest number of accidents with 223.

Eight people died the first day of the festival last Thursday, after a wooden boat carrying 61 Buddhist pilgrims sank after a fishing net wrapped around the vessel’s propeller in a river near Kyauktaw in western Rakhine state.

The water festival was celebrated April 13-16 to welcome the traditional New Year.