“If there are people who are alive, save them… Save those who are alive.”
In a video file, the man was screaming like this for help, trying to get up from the ground and trying to survive despite of being unable to move his lower legs due to the bomb.
The man in the video file is one of those 168 people including children and pregnant women were killed, due to the SAC military bombed by jet fighter on Pazigyi village on the last April 11th.
He filmed a short video of the ground situation with his phone after the bombing of Pazigyi village, while suffering to death in a daze with injuries all over his body, including his leg.
It is known that he passed away because of injuries sustained, on the way to the hospital by rescue teams.
The airstrike on Pazigyi Village in Kanbalu Township, Sagaing Region on 11th May, has been a month. Among 168 people killed by the air attack, 121 men, 47 women and 21 children are included.
Due to the air attack on Pazigyi village, the parents, members and relatives of every family in Pazigyi village were killed by bombing airstrike and machine gun fire by plane.
But the family members could not hold the funeral of family members, parents, children and relatives who were killed, and they have been fleeing as war refugees because of the military council troops who are constantly patrolling the village, and now it has been a month for fleeing the war.
“We could not offer food to monks during one week of funeral for those. “Yesterday evening, some of the people in the vicinity just held a brief ordinary hearing of sermon of monks,” said a local.
At present, more than 5,000 residents of Pazigyi village and nearby villages that are Zinkwe Kone, Chaungmagyi, Chaung Thar, Laytwinsin, Melzataw, Ywatharyar, Ngetpyaw Tai of Ma lae township, in Kanbalu District, has been fleeing due to the military troops are patrolling to villages.
“They patrolled on the ground as well as dropped bombs by plane. People are fleeing to different places,” said a person in charge of a ground team that supports the needs of villages in Kanbalu District.
The people fleeing the war in Kanbalu District are facing the threat of war, and on the other hand, they are also worried about their livelihood.
“At present, the displaced people of Pazigyi village and nearby villages are living in tents in the forest. They have to live in group in the forest. It is no longer possible to return to their place. The villagers’ houses were burned every time when the column entered in the village. It’s only a day or two, the column is still quiet,” said the person in charge of ground support in Kanbalu District.
It is investigated from a ground team conducting field censuses that “within a month after the airstrike on Pazigyi village, 68 houses of Laytwinsin Village, 32 houses, 1 health-clinic and 1 Social Affair office of Chaung Thar village in Kanbalu District, were burned down by the military troops”.
If the military council’s raids and attacks in Kanbalu district within a month, including the airstrike on Pazigyi village, can be seen that they are attacking on purpose.
“General Zaw Min Tun, the spokesman of the military council, said in RFA news agency related to the airstrike was made on the Pazigyi village, that “the office under the name of PDF was opened. The opening of the office is carried out. We have an attack on this. When we made an attack, we also learned that the PDF groups that were present at this ceremony were killed. It’s not because of our attack alone. On the ground, those groups have mines around the area that are used by the PDF group. Then there is the ammunition storage area where the ammunition used by the PDF team is stored. We also received the exact information that the weapon hit that spot and then it exploded and people were killed”.
At the Pazigyi village airstrike press conference, Ko Kyaw Wunna, a spokesman for the Downey Group which is one of the ground team say and resolved against General Zaw Min Tun’s insistence regarding the Pazigyi village airstrike that it was made by PDF groups a mine on ground, that “it is not true and it is not mined in this area”.
“Where there are so many people, it is impossible to place landmines on the streets during an event like this. We, those who lead, have no less consciousness. It is not near the village. There might be a few steps away from the village because we were afraid of the military council. We cannot know that,” he replied.
At the Pazigyi village event press conference led by NUG, U Min Min, a weapons expert at the Ministry of Defense of the NUG, explained about the weapon parts obtained from the Pazigyi village event.
“If looking at the rocket parts that we found on the ground, it is an S5 rocket. The explosive charge of that rocket is around 1 kg. MI 35 cannons were also used. They were used with machine guns as well as machine cannons. If it has 30 mm, it is in the list of machine guns. The main focus of machine guns is designed to destroy objects. That’s why, if it hits people, it is possible that the hands and foot are completely parted as pieces. When we looked at the death bodies on the ground, we found this fact,” he said.
It can be said that the Pazigyi village airstrike was one of the airstrikes of the military council’s bombardment that caused the most casualties. Now, the residents of nearby villages, including Pazigyi village, are still facing various challenges from the different sides.
On the other hand, when the local people go to live and flee in the forest due to the military council troops raided and patrolled round-by-villages, the local people are also facing the danger of snakes.
It is investigated from the information from health workers providing medical treatment, that from the end of 2021 to April 2023, 61 people have died because of cobra bites in Kanbalu District.
In addition, some people who have direct contact with the ground said that the displaced people have been fleeing for a long time, so they are now facing food challenges.
“A local from Pazigyi village called. They said to help them because they have no more rice and it is hard to eat. I asked them. There are groups that donate to Pazigyi village. He said that he got very little because he didn’t get money. He said that people don’t donate them money, just give them food because the money doesn’t reach directly them. So where does the money donated to the people reach? We really need to donate in practice,” said a relative of a resident of Pazigyi village.
After being airstrike on the Pazigyi village, there are a lot of donations and support to people of Pazigyi village, but in the actual situation of the ground, the displaced people who are fleeing the war is still facing difficulties.
“There are only 17 bags of rice left for 770 people, so I bought it myself and sent it to the village group today. They said they only had left one can of oil. To provide the needs, I want donors to directly donate goods to those instead of money,” said a person directly helping Pazigyi village on the ground.
The man in the video, who was asking for help in the hope that any of the survivors would come to the rescue, can be said to have escaped the hardships of the Myanmar people, but the local survivors the villages including Pazigyi village in Kanbalu District, are still struggling with all kinds of problems.