SCDF rescuers deployed to quake-hit Myanmar to come home on April 8

An 80-man Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) contingent deployed to quake-hit Myanmar will return on April 8, concluding a search-and-rescue mission of about 10 days.

The Operation Lionheart squad has been handing over essential supplies such as tents, canned food and ready-to-eat rations to the Myanmar Fire Services Department, said SCDF in a Facebook post on April 7.

The team chief, Colonel Tay Zhi Wei, also gifted a hydraulic cutter to the director-general of the Myanmar fire services on behalf of the SCDF squad.

The cutter was crucial to the Singapore team's March 30 rescue of a man trapped beneath the rubble of a partly collapsed three-storey building.

Small but powerful, the cutter sliced through the rebar - or reinforced steel - in the concrete slabs that had fallen on the man, who was trapped in an extremely tight area. This helped to free him, said SCDF.

The tool is now an enduring symbol of friendship between SCDF and its Myanmar counterpart, in whose good hands it will continue to save lives, added SCDF.

The Lionheart team also donated two tents to Naypyitaw Women's Hospital, as well as five tents, medical drugs and supplies to Naypyitaw General Hospital.

The National Disaster Management Committee in the capital Naypyitaw held an appreciation ceremony for international urban search-and-rescue teams from Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines and Singapore.

In an April 6 Facebook post, SCDF said Operation Lionheart recovered a body from the rubble of a collapsed hotel, beneath layers of concrete and steel.

The squad, deployed at full strength for the first time since 2023, had as at that day searched 26 sites and given medical assistance to some 130 locals.

The team arrived in the capital on March 29, following the deadliest earthquake to strike Myanmar in a century.

The 7.7-magnitude temblor has killed over 3,400 people and injured 4,600 others, with the figures still being updated.

More than 17 million people have been affected, according to the United Nations.

Among the ranks of the 80-member Singapore contingent are the elite Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team, full-time national servicemen doctors, paramedics, and search and hazardous materials specialists.

The contingent will return on a Singapore Airlines flight arriving at Changi Airport Terminal 3.