Trapped under rubble, 2 Myanmar sers recorded final messages—then, a miracle | World News
Under the debris of their collapsed apartment in Myanmar’s Mandalay, two teenage sers clung to their grandmother, their only source of light the dim glow of their phone screens. They believed they were documenting their final moments. Trapped for hours beneath the wreckage left the country’s most powerful earthquake in a century, now, they needed to survive the long hours that followed.The grainy footage they recorded tells a story of desperation, resilience, and an unbreakable will to live, according to a Sky News report. The 13- and 16-year-old girls had been trying to flee their sixth-floor apartment when the 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck on Friday. As their family rushed toward the emergency staircase, the building crumbled around them, leaving the girls and their 75-year-old grandmother buried under debris, CNN reported.
Their father, fearing the worst, had turned to social media, pleading for help in recovering their bodies. But his daughters had survived. Amid the suffocating darkness, they recorded videos, hoping that even if they perished, their phones might be found.
2 girls and their grandmother keep calm while trapped under rubble in the Myanmar earthquake. They’ve been rescued, but many are still missing.
My heart aches imagining their terror—the crushing weight, the desperate gasps for air during Myanmar’s devastating earthquake. But… pic.twitter.com/QZTaybBTYj
— Yelisaveta Petrov (@YelisavetaPaUSA) March 31, 2025
“My daughters recorded them, thinking that if they and grandma died, their phones might be found, and we would see them one last time. They even unlocked their phones so we could access them,” their father revealed in a Facebook post.
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For hours, they lay in silence, lening to the dant cries of other survivors. Their calls for help went unanswered. Holding hands with their grandmother, they wept, fearing they would never be found.
Then came a glimmer of hope. Rescuers, after hours of painstaking work, managed to create a small opening and pass them water. But with limited equipment, they had to leave, entrusting the girls with only a hammer. Desperate to free their grandmother, the girls tried to widen the hole themselves, but the larger stones were immovable.
When rescuers returned, they pulled the girls out first, then worked to free their grandmother, who was struggling to breathe. With great effort, they finally managed to bring her to safety.
The earthquake has claimed more than 2,700 lives, with thousands more injured, according to Myanmar media reports. Many remain buried beneath the rubble as rescue teams battle blocked roads and damaged infrastructure to reach them.Story continues below this ad
In another miraculous rescue, a pregnant woman was pulled from the ruins of Mandalay’s Great Wall Hotel after being trapped for nearly 60 hours. A video of her rescue, shared on social media, showed onlookers cheering as she was carried away on a stretcher—a rare moment of hope amid the devastation.
Instant tears with joy“Myanmar Fire Department, Russian and People’s Republic of China Search and Rescue Team jointly searched for the trapped people. Today at (00:40), Mrs. A (about 5 months pregnant) was rescued alive after more than (60) hours”#MayanmarEarthquake#Mandalay pic.twitter.com/TNMcrcEh4g
— Pholibramm (@pholibramm) March 31, 2025
Yet, for many in Myanmar, hope is slipping away. The country’s ongoing civil war, which has raged since the military coup in 2021, has made relief efforts even more difficult. Damaged roads and restricted communications are preventing aid groups from delivering essential supplies.
“In the worst-affected areas, people are sleeping outside, fearing aftershocks,” an International Rescue Committee (IRC) worker reported. “Even those whose homes are intact are too afraid to return indoors.”
