Chinese rescue teams have been carefully working at the disaster sites in Myanmar's quake-hit Mandalay following Friday's devastating earthquake, listening out for signs of life as they hope to pull out more possible survivors from beneath the rubble.
The 7.9-magnitude quake rocked central Myanmar on Friday, with the latest death toll rising to over 3,000, with more than 4,500 injured and over 350 people still missing, according to the latest information on Wednesday.
Amid the large-scale emergency response, Chinese official and civil rescue teams have been assisting in the search and rescue efforts on the front lines and have so far helped pull out eight survivors as of Wednesday morning.
Rescue teams from Shanghai and Xiamen City of east China's Fujian Province detected signs of life under a partially collapsed apartment block on Tuesday afternoon, and carried out further checks to proceed with a possible rescue plan.
Before entering the heavily damaged building - which has seen its lower floors cave-in and now stands at a precarious angle - the teams carefully evaluated the stability of the structure to avoid any secondary collapses occurring, before continuing further searches to more accurately locate the position of the survivor.
"We have already assessed the suspected spots, which saves us a lot of time [in the search]. If our fellow rescue teams have equipment available, we will use whatever we have on hand," said Li Gen, a seismology expert and the deputy leader of the "Shuguang" or "Dawn" rescue team from Xiamen.
As the detection team was still trying to precisely pinpoint the victim's position, another group was getting ready to enter through the rubble, but the rescue members were proceeding cautiously in their operation as they prepared for every eventuality.
"We just found a suspected spot, but it may not be the survivor we are looking for. It might be just a small animal, as there's a lot of movement. The radar waves are spread out in a circular sector, covering a flat plane. We'll scan along the plane first, and then go up to the spot we have cleared and scan down from the top of the building. After that, we will reposition to the opposite side, at back of the building, and scan again to track the suspected point," said Li.
The search and rescue work continued after night fell, with multiple other rescue forces later joining the two teams. With searchlights guiding, the group sought to break through the collapsed floors in an effort to tunnel their way to the survivor's position.
The rescue operation has continued for over 24 hours and is now continuing into a second night on Wednesday, according to reports at the scene.
Search continuing to locate possible survivor after signs of life found in collapsed Mandalay apartment
A Brazilian national who was deported by the United States in January this year recounted the discriminatory and inhumane treatment he encountered during the repatriation in an interview with China Central Television (CCTV).
Jefferson Faustino was among the 88 deported Brazilians sent by a charter flight from the U.S. to Manaus, a city in northern Brazil, on Jan 24.
During dozens of hours of flight, they were handcuffed, shackled, and denied food and bathroom, and they almost lost their lives to an air conditioning fault, according to Faustino.
"They gave us water in very small bottles on the plane. And I couldn't drink it, because my hands were cuffed to the waist chain. So I had to bend down hard and squash the bottle to spray water into my mouth, because otherwise I wouldn't be able to reach the water at all. Even by doing so, I couldn't get water. When I squeeze the bottle, the water sprayed out and soaked me all over. In the 48 hours of repatriation, they distributed food only one time. It was a spoiled sandwich. The sandwich they gave turned purplish color. I was starving. What could I do? I had to eat," Faustino said.
"In the 48 hours of repatriation, they distributed food only one time. It was a spoiled sandwich. The sandwich they gave me was purple. I was starving. What could I do? I had to eat," he added.
Meanwhile, the American crew enjoyed fresh food and water, Faustino told CCTV.
"No, they had very good food. Every meal, they went over there to heat up box lunches and drink water. The cabin cabinets were full of lunch boxes, full of food, but they didn't give us that food," he said.
The Brazilian deportees protested the unfair treatment and asked for the food and water, but they were not given a response, because of the language barrier, Faustino recalled.
"Yes, we asked. We spoke loudly to them, but the crew didn't speak Portuguese or Spanish, only English. It's a humiliation to us the Brazilians, because we didn't have food and couldn't use the bathroom. The children were crying," he said.
After the plane arrived in Manaus, the air conditioning system broke down and the crew got off the plane, leaving the deportees suffocating in the enclosure.
"People couldn't breathe. The cabin was out of air. I managed to open an emergency exit door and shouted to the police: 'Help! Help! Help!' I yelled for help, asking them to come and save us, because I thought I was dying, I was dying," Faustino said.
The Brazilian government deemed this treatment "degrading" and "unacceptable", with the country's foreign ministry summoning the charge d'affaires of the U.S. Embassy to request an explanation over the issue on Jan 26.
"The U.S. government should be held accountable. Why didn't they train these people responsible for transporting deportees. Since the Trump administration came to power, it has created conflicts in American society and adopted policies that are completely against democracy and public opinion, disrupting relations between the U.S. and its economic and political partners," said Rinaldo Leal, a Brazilian lawyer.
U.S. President Donald Trump signed on his inauguration day an executive order that called for mass deportations of undocumented migrants. Since then, raids and deportations of undocumented migrants, especially those from Latin America, have continued to ramp up.
Brazilian deportee recounts inhumane treatment during flight from US
Brazilian deportee recounts inhumane treatment during flight from US
