According to affected families and local residents, numerous deaths occurred at the KBZ Bank branch in Pyawbwe, Mandalay Region, when bank officials prioritized securing money over rescuing trapped people following the building’s collapse during a powerful earthquake on March 28. The officials called in military forces for security while retrieving funds, rather than focusing on rescue efforts. The five-story building sank three floors into the ground, trapping 11 bank employees and over 30 customers inside.
After bank manager Daw Thin Thin Yu and assistant manager Daw Yu Yu Khin escaped, they called in military forces for security and used excavators to dig out the bank’s vault area to retrieve money, rather than attempting to rescue those trapped inside. Local residents offered to rent excavators at a cost of 3 million kyats per hour to assist with rescue efforts, but bank officials refused. Additionally, rescue teams from Aungban and Meiktila were turned away by military forces. When the earthquake struck, the bank’s doors automatically locked, and despite pleas from those trapped inside to open them, bank officials refused to do so.
According to a family member of one of the victims, instead of initiating rescue operations from the front of the building, officials only created access points near the vault to retrieve money. They hastily removed bodies without allowing families to identify them. People remained alive and calling for help for days after the earthquake, but officials focused solely on securing funds rather than rescue efforts. The bank owner, Aung Ko Win, arrived on March 30, after which Singapore rescue teams and firefighters inspected the site and determined that all those trapped had died from starvation, dehydration, blood loss, and lack of oxygen. Local residents maintain that many deaths could have been prevented if bank officials had made different decisions and prioritized rescue operations over securing money.
