More than 50,000 people have evacuated their homes in central Myanmar after part of a dam failed on Wednesday, inundating communities and damaging a bridge on a major highway, officials said.
The incident spotlights safety concerns about dams in Southeast Asia following last month's collapse of a hydroelectric dam in neighboring Laos that displaced thousands of people and killed at least 27.
Myanmar fire authorities sent a team to the dam after the breach at 5:30 a.m. unleashed water into the nearby town of Swar and several other settlements.