New Delhi (Mizzima) – Six-foot high tidal waves capsized about 20 fishing vessels in Zinchaung Village near Kyaukphyu in Arakan State on Sunday, according to officials in the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP).
The weather turned dangerous about 8 p.m. when large waves struck Zinchaung Village, located 28 miles south of Kyaukphyu. Six fishing vessels were completely destroyed by the waves, villagers said.
Ba Shein, a RNDP member, told Mizzima: ‘There were no strong winds. Suddenly, big waves rose and the fishing vessels were capsized. The villagers said that the waves were larger than waves during Cyclone Giri’.
The village is located about 30 feet from the shore line, where the vessels were moored. High waves continued throughout the night, according to reports.
The vessels, about 25-foot long with a 20-horsepower motor, are valued at about 2 million kyat (US $2,300) each.
A popular Burmese meteorologist, Dr. Tun Lwin, told Mizzima that the sudden rise of waves may have been caused by undersea landslides in the Bay of Bengal near Arakan State.
‘I can’t say exactly’, he said. ‘But I’ve read the surveys conducted by TOTAL Company [an oil company], and the surveys said that there were frequent landslides in the Bay of Bengal. The waves rose without tsunami or storms’. Undersea landslides are unusual in the area, he said.
