Survivors still being found from Myanmar earthquake, but hopes begin to fade as deaths exceed 2,700

BANGKOK (AP) — Rescue workers saved a 63-year-old woman from the rubble of a building in Myanmar's capital on Tuesday, but hope was fading of finding many more survivors of the violent earthquake that killed more than 2,700 people, compounding a humanitarian crisis caused by a civil war.

The fire department in Naypyitaw said the woman was successfully pulled from the rubble 91 hours after being buried when the building collapsed in the 7.7 magnitude earthquake that hit midday Friday. Experts say the likelihood of finding survivors drops dramatically after 72 hours.

The head of Myanmar’s military government, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, told a forum for relief donations in Naypyitaw that 2,719 people have now been found dead, with 4,521 others injured and 441 missing, Myanmar's state MRTV television reported.

He said Friday’s earthquake was the second most powerful in the country's recorded history after a magnitude 8 quake east of Mandalay in May 1912.

The casualty figures are widely expected to rise. The earthquake hit a wide swath of the country, leaving many areas without power, telephone or cell connections and damaging roads and bridges, making the full extent of the devastation hard to assess.

Most of the reports so far have come from Mandalay, Myanmar's second-largest city, which was near the epicenter of the earthquake, and Naypyitaw, the capital.

“The needs are massive, and they are rising by the hour,” said Julia Rees, UNICEF's deputy representative for Myanmar.

Myanmar's fire department said 403 people have been rescued in Mandalay and 259 bodies have been found so far. In one incident, 50 Buddhist monks who were taking a religious exam in a monastery were killed when the building collapsed, and 150 more are thought to be buried in the rubble.

The World Health Organization said more than 10,000 buildings overall are known to have collapsed or been severely damaged by the quake.

The earthquake also rocked neighboring Thailand, causing a high-rise building under construction to collapse and burying many workers.

Two bodies were pulled from the rubble Monday and another was recovered Tuesday, but dozens were still missing. Overall, there were 22 people killed and 34 injured in Bangkok, primarily at the construction site.

In Myanmar, search and rescue efforts across the affected area paused briefly at midday Tuesday as people stood for a minute in silent tribute to the dead.

Foreign aid workers have been arriving slowly to help in the rescue efforts, but progress lagged due to a lack of heavy machinery in many places.

In one site in Naypyitaw on Tuesday, workers formed a human chain, passing chunks of brick and concrete out hand-by-hand from the ruins of a collapsed building.

The state Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported Tuesday that a team of Chinese rescuers saved four people the day before from the ruins of an apartment complex. They included a 5-year-old and a pregnant woman who had been trapped for more than 60 hours.

It also reported that two teenagers were able to crawl out of the rubble of the same building using their cellphone flashlights to help guide them. Rescue workers were then able to use details from what they told them to locate their grandmother and sibling.

International rescue teams from several countries are on the scene, including from Russia, China, India, the United Arab Emirates and several Southeast Asian countries.

A small U.S. Agency for International Development disaster assessment team arrived Tuesday to determine how best to respond given limited U.S. resources due to the slashing of the foreign aid budget and dismantling of the agency as an independent operation.

A U.S. official said the three-person team had waited for visas before making the trip from neighboring Thailand following a weekend decision to provide $2 million in emergency assistance to Myanmar. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the team’s arrival has not yet been publicly announced.

Meantime, multiple countries have pledged millions in assistance to help Myanmar and humanitarian aid organizations with the monumental task ahead.

Even before the earthquake, more than 3 million people had been displaced from their homes by Myanmar's brutal civil war, and nearly 20 million were in need, according to the U.N.

Many were already lacking in basic medical care and standard vaccinations, and the destruction of water and sanitation infrastructure by the earthquake and the movement of people into overcrowded shelters raises the risk of disease outbreaks, warned the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

“Vulnerability to respiratory infections, skin diseases, vector-borne illnesses such as dengue fever, and vaccine-preventable diseases like measles is escalating,” OCHA said in its latest report.

Shelter is also a major problem, especially with the monsoon season looming.

Since the earthquake, many people have been sleeping outside, either because homes were destroyed or out of fear of aftershocks.

Myanmar's military seized power in 2021 from the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking what has turned into significant armed resistance and a brutal civil war.

Government forces have lost control of much of Myanmar, and many places were dangerous or impossible for aid groups to reach even before the quake.

Military attacks and those from some anti-military groups have not stopped in the aftermath of the earthquake, though the shadow opposition National Unity Government has called a unilateral ceasefire for its forces.

The NUG, established by elected lawmakers who were ousted in 2021, called for the international community to ensure humanitarian aid is delivered directly to the earthquake victims, urging “vigilance against any attempts by the military junta to divert or obstruct humanitarian assistance," saying that could have “devastating consequences.”

The ceasefire plan for the armed wing of the NUG, called the People's Defense Force, would have little effect on the battlefield, but could draw more international condemnation of continuing operations by the military, including air attacks reported by independent media.

A second armed opposition group, a coalition of three powerful ethnic minority guerrilla armies called the Three Brotherhood Alliance, announced Tuesday that it would also implement a monthlong unilateral ceasefire.

Before the announcement, Min Aung Hlaing earler seemed to reject implementing a ceasefire, saying in his speech on Tuesday that the military will continue to take necessary defensive measures against some ethnic armed groups that were currently not carrying out combat operations, but were conducting military training, which he said amounted to hostile action.

It wasn't immediately clear whether the military has been impeding humanitarian aid. In the past, it initially refused to allow in foreign rescue teams or many emergency supplies after Cyclone Nargis in 2008, which resulted in well more than 100,000 deaths. Even once it did allow foreign assistance, it was with severe restrictions.

In this case, however, Min Aung Hlaing pointedly said on the day of the earthquake that the country would accept outside help.

Tom Andrews, a monitor on rights in Myanmar commissioned by the U.N.-backed Human Rights Council, said on X that to facilitate aid, military attacks must stop.

“The focus in Myanmar must be on saving lives, not taking them,” he said.

Associated Press reporters Grant Peck and Jintamas Saksornchai in Bangkok, Matthew Lee in Washington and Jamey Keaten in Geneva, contributed to this story.

Local residents rest near their mosquito nets on a road in the aftermath of Friday's earthquake in Mandalay, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo)

A rescuer works through rubble of a collapsed building following Friday's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo)

Rescue members stand as they gather for a minute of silence marking a week of national mourning after the earthquake, in Mandalay, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo)

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, injured people receive treatment at a makeshift tent in the earthquake hit Sagaing, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (Myo Kyaw Soe/Xinhua via AP)

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, volunteers distribute water to people affected by the earthquake in Sagaing, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (Myo Kyaw Soe/Xinhua via AP)

Local residents rest near their mosquito nets on a road in the aftermath of Friday's earthquake in Mandalay, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo)

Myanmar's rescuers work through rubble of a collapsed building following Friday's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo)

A rescuer works through rubble of a collapsed building following Friday's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo)

People go through the rubble of a collapsed building following Friday's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo)

A fish vendor awaits customers at a local bazaar next to damaged buildings following Friday's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo)

People inspect their homes, damaged following Friday's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo)

People carry their belongings as they leave their homes, damaged by Friday's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo)

Rescuers work through rubble of a collapsed building following Friday's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo)

A local man pushes a motorbike past a damaged building following Friday's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo)

A rescuer works through rubble of a collapsed building following Friday's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo)

People carry their belongings as they leave their homes, damaged by Friday's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo)

A man walks through a damaged building following Friday's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo)

Myanmar's military personnel search through rubble of a collapsed building following Friday's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo)

Myanmar's military officers search through rubble of a collapsed building following Friday's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo)

Rescuers work through rubble of a collapsed building following Friday's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo)

Myanmar's military rescuers work through rubble of a collapsed building following Friday's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo)

A rescuer works through rubble of a collapsed building following Friday's earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo)

NUUK, Greenland (AP) — Denmark's prime minister has told the U.S. during a visit to Greenland that “you cannot annex another country,” even with the argument that international security is at stake.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, meanwhile, said on Friday that Copenhagen “should focus on the fact that the Greenlanders don’t want to be a part of Denmark.”

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was wrapping up a three-day visit to the strategically critical Arctic island on Friday as U.S. President Donald Trump seeks control of Greenland. He argues that Greenland, a semiautonomous territory belonging to the Kingdom of Denmark, is critical to U.S. security.

A week ago, Vice President JD Vance visited a remote U.S. military base in Greenland and accused Denmark of underinvesting in the territory.

Frederiksen pushed back against the U.S. criticism as she spoke on Thursday alongside Greenland's incoming and outgoing leaders on board a Danish naval ship. She argued that Denmark, a NATO ally, has been a reliable friend.

Speaking in English, she said that “if we let ourselves be divided as allies, then we do our foes a favor. And I will do everything that I can to prevent that from happening.”

“When you ask our businesses to invest in the U.S., they do. When you ask us to spend more on our defense, we do; and when you ask of us to strengthen security in the Arctic, we are on the same page,” she said.

“But when you demand to take over a part of the Kingdom of Denmark’s territory, when we are met by pressure and by threats from our closest ally, what are we to believe in about the country that we have admired for so many years?”

“This is about the world order that we have built together across the Atlantic over generations: you cannot annex another country, not even with an argument about international security,” Frederiksen said.

The Danish leader said that, if the U.S. wants to strengthen security in the Arctic, “let us do so together.”

Political parties in Greenland, which has been leaning toward eventual independence from Denmark for years, last week agreed to form a broad-based new coalition government in the face of Trump's designs on the territory. Those have angered many in Greenland and Denmark.

In an interview with Newsmax on Thursday, Vance repeated the accusation that Denmark has “really underinvested in the infrastructure and security of Greenland.”

He said Trump's point is that “this matters to our security, this matters to our missile defense, and we're going to protect America's interests come hell or high water.”

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, who was attending a meeting in Brussels with his NATO counterparts, wrote on social network X that he had an “honest and direct” meeting Thursday with Rubio.

“I made it crystal clear that claims and statements about annexing Greenland are not only unacceptable and disrespectful,” Løkke Rasmussen wrote. “They amount to a violation of international law.”

Rubio told reporters in Brussels Friday that “Denmark should focus on the fact that the Greenlanders don’t want to be a part of Denmark."

“We didn’t give them that idea. They’ve been talking about that for a long time,” he said. "Whenever they make that decision, they’ll make that decision.”

“If they make that decision, then the United States would stand ready, potentially, to step in and say, okay, we can create a partnership with you," Rubio said, adding that "we’re not at that stage.”

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and her husband Bo Tengberg aboard the Danish Navy inspection vessel Vaedderen together with Greenland's acting head of government Múte Bourup Egede, center left, and newly elected head of government, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, left, in the waters around Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen speaks with the head of the Arctic Command, Soeren Andersen, aboard the Defense's inspection vessel Vaedderen, in the waters around Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, left, Greenlands acting head of government Múte Bourup Egede, right, and newly elected head of government, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, center, prepare to embark on a trip with a Danish Navy Sea Hawk helicopter from the Danish Navy inspection ship Vaedderen, in the waters around Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland's new Prime Minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, not pictured, on a bus tour during her three-day visit around Nuuk, Greenland, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen visits Greenland Business, Greenland's largest business organization, together with Greenland's new Prime Minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, during a three-day visit in Nuuk, Greenland, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (Photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix)

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen aboard the Danish Navy inspection vessel Vaedderen together with Greenland's acting head of government Múte Bourup Egede and newly elected head of government, Jens-Frederik Nielsen in the waters around Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, center, Greenlands acting head of government Múte Bourup Egede, right, and newly elected head of government, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, walk after a trip with a Danish Navy Sea Hawk helicopter from the Danish Navy inspection ship Vaedderen, in the waters around Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Greenland's acting head of government Múte Bourup Egede, right, and newly elected head of government Jens-Frederik Nielsen, center, hold a press conference aboard the Danish Navy inspection ship Vaedderen, in Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, right, Greenlands acting head of government Múte Bourup Egede, center, and newly elected head of government, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, left, speak aboard the Defense's inspection vessel Vaedderen, in the waters around Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)