A gruelling search for bodies in Sagaing, the city at the Myanmar earthquake's epicentre

2 April 2025, 16:22 | Updated: 2 April 2025, 19:47

In Sagaing, the epicentre of the earthquake in Myanmar, the scale of the loss is immense.

There are mass graves and the stench of death is everywhere.

The road into the city, as witnessed by our camera operator, offers an omen of the devastation that lies ahead - the bridge is torn apart.

How quake left areas almost totally destroyed

Outside the ruins of Gay Day Myaing Grocery store, a large crowd is watching as volunteer rescue workers, who have been there for hours, try to recover the body of 16-year-old May Poo Aung.

The teenager was working inside when the earthquake hit.

She'd only recently fled fighting further north, hoping Sagaing would be a place of safety.

But, sadly, she could not survive the cruelty of Mother Nature.

Local people are trying to offer dignity to the dead.

Without heavy equipment, they have been digging out neighbours, friends, and family members from the rubble themselves.

It's gruelling work.

Wai Yan Min Oo, a volunteer, is struggling with the horror of it all.

"Our rescue team is working hard to return the bodies of those who have died to their families. And after five days, it's very distressing to see the condition of the bodies. They're decomposing. And the smell is awful."

So many young lives have been lost here, and every recovery is taking hours.

Myat Private School is a pile of bricks. A brutal lesson in loss no one wants to attend.

Six children are buried beneath, along with their teachers. Futures ripped away in moments.

For days, the people of Sagaing have been waiting for help. However, international aid arriving in Myanmar is being tightly controlled.

At first, much of it was sent to the capital Naypyidaw, delaying it reaching the places that needed it the most.

Aid has long been weaponised in Myanmar, and even a natural disaster has not changed that dynamic.

On Wednesday, the ruling military junta admitted to firing warning shots at an aid convoy in another area.

In a rare move, the isolated nation asked for help - but now it’s trying to control it.

Areas like the Sagaing region, home to resistance forces, have not received the aid needed.

Read more:
Bodies 'still' in destroyed buildings
Military targeting 'civilian areas' after disaster

The junta has continued to carry out airstrikes in parts of the country, although it has now finally agreed to a month-long ceasefire.

But the situation on the ground is dire, and most of the buildings have been damaged or destroyed.

More than 3,000 people are known to have died in Friday's 7.7 magnitude earthquake, and thousands more may have been killed in Sagaing alone.

(c) Sky News 2025: A gruelling search for bodies in Sagaing, the city at the Myanmar earthquake's epicentre