MYANMAR troops deployed to flood-hit parts of the country yesterday to help with relief efforts after the death toll from a deadly landslide jumped to 48.

Every year monsoon rains hammer Myanmar and other countries across Southeast Asia, submerging homes, displacing thousands and triggering landslides.

But the disaster Friday in southeastern Mon state was the worst in recent memory and hundreds of emergency response workers were still pulling bodies out of the muddy wreckage early yesterday.

As the rainy season reaches its peak, the country’s armed forces are pitching in.

“Our regional military commands are working to help with the search and rescue process in disaster areas,” Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun said.

The bulk of the effort is focused on hard-hit Mon state, which sits on the coast of the Andaman sea.

Floodwaters have submerged more than 4,000 houses in the state and displaced more than 25,000 residents who have sought shelter in monasteries and pagodas, according to state-owned Global New Light of Myanmar.

(SD-Agencies)