Tens of thousands of people who were trapped in Laukkai Town as fighting raged in Kokang region are now fleeing to Lashio in northern Shan State after the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) opened a route for the mainly migrant workers to return to their homes or at least find safety.
MNDAA units have encircled Laukkai as it prepares to retake the capital of Kokang Self-Administered Zone from the regime. Its goal is to regain complete control the zone, which is on the border with China.
Ko Win Kyi and his coworkers from a construction site began departed Laukkai Town on November 26 in a van provided by their employer. The road between Laukkai and Kunlong was jammed with hundreds of vehicles, however. Ko Win Kyi and his co-workers decided to join friends travelling through the forest on motorbikes.
“The MNDAA soldiers helped arrange all the routes that we can go through safely to reach Lashio Township. But they confiscated our mobile phones and they destroyed them in front of us for security reasons. And we were not allowed to look sideways while we were going through the forest,” Ko Win Kyi added.
On November 28, all the hotels, motels and monasteries in Lashio filled with the thousands of people fleeing Laukkai as thousands more remained stuck on roads.
Most were migrant workers from as far away as Ayerwaddy and Bago regions. Others were from Mandalay and Sagaing regions.
The routes that the MNDAA opened for them included roads as well as paths through forests in Laukkai, Kunlong, and Laukkai townships and Wa Self-Administrative Region. But all of the migrants fleeing Laukkai had to first reach Lashio before continuing on to their homes.
Source: Irrawaddy.com
Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque
