4 Filipinos in Myanmar quake still unaccounted for

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, members of a China search and rescue team transfer a pregnant survivor from a collapsed building in the aftermath of an earthquake in Mandalay, Myanmar, Monday, March 31, 2025. (Myo Kyaw Soe/Xinhua via AP)

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Embassy in Yangon said no positive identifications have so far been made on any rescued persons or recovered cadavers in connection with the four missing Filipinos after the magnitude 7.7 quake in Myanmar.

In an advisory on Wednesday, the embassy said its composite team met with the officials handling the search and rescue on-site, as well as officials of the Mandalay General Hospital, to confirm the identities of rescued or recovered foreigners from the Sky Villa building rubble.

“At this time, no positive identification has been made for any rescued persons or recovered cadavers in connection with the four Filipinos who are presumed [to be] in the rubble,” said the embassy.

“The team had likewise met with the other 11 Filipinos who had survived the collapse of Sky Villa to solicit more useful information,” it added.

According to the embassy, they remain in close coordination with relevant authorities and are exerting all efforts to ascertain the status of the four Filipinos.

“Search and retrieval operations are still ongoing,” the embassy said.

A powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake rocked central Myanmar on March 28, damaging buildings and forcing people to flee into the streets in neighboring Thailand.

The Department of Foreign Affairs earlier said four Filipinos in Myanmar remain unaccounted for after the earthquake, among whom are a husband and wife who lived in a building that collapsed after the tremor.