The Sittwe municipal authorities have moved ghosts from an old graveyard to the site of the new graveyard by municipal vehicles on January 2 and 3, said a town elder.

"It is very popular news in Sittwe recently and people are talking about it. It really happened in Sittwe on those two days," he said.

The Burmese military authorities shifted a major Sittwe graveyard to Manzi, eight miles from the city, on 1 January, 2010. A day later the municipal authorities moved the ghosts from the old graveyard to the new one in government vehicles.

"I heard that the municipal authorities ordered ghosts from the old graveyard to leave for the new graveyard in municipal vehicles. An official announced that it is a government order and all ghosts have to follow it. After that, the municipal authorities drove the vehicles several times between the old graveyard and the new graveyard over those two days," he said.

According to a local source, the authorities only allowed 40 ghosts in a vehicle at one time to travel to the new graveyard.

"It was conducted by the authorities in accordance with tradition, but no one knows if the ghosts were going to the new graveyard in the vehicles because people were unable to see them," the source added.

Despite this, many townspeople believe the ghosts from the old graveyard did travel to the new site in the municipal vehicles.

According to a local source, the car driver noticed that his car drove like there were many passengers inside it even though there were none. The car tires also primed during the travel time from the old graveyard.

The graveyard that was moved was a major one for Sittwe and was located at Ahr Git Taung Kon, an elevated area five miles from Sittwe, and had been in use since it was established by the British in 1830. It has been moved to Manzi so the government can build military buildings and cyclone centers for army families at the old site.