At least 17 people were wounded on Sunday in an explosion on a ferry traveling from Yangon to Dala. No group has claimed responsibility for the blast so far.
The explosion happened at around 6:10pm, soon after the Cherry (1) passenger ferry left the Pansodan jetty in Yangon’s downtown to cross the Yangon River to Dala. The blast occurred on the lower deck, according to a commuter who was on the boat.
“I was sitting on the upper deck. Soon after the boat left the jetty, the blast happened and the ferry immediately returned to the jetty. I was so frightened,” said U Ali, a 70-year-old man.
After the bomb blast, U Ali and other uninjured commuters took long-tail boats back to their homes in Dala Township, which sits across the river from downtown Yangon.
There has been no official statement on the explosion from the military regime, but its social media propaganda channels and Telegram groups are blaming the attack on local People’s Defense Forces (PDF), one of the armed wings of the parallel civilian National Unity Government.
However, Dala PDF and its allied PDFs issued a statement a few hours after the incident denouncing the bomb attack.
“Junta troops and their informants are threatening the people, extorting money from the people and carrying out bomb attacks in public areas,” said Dala PDF. The group added that it strongly condemns the attack on the ferry and feels sorry for those injured, while warning that those responsible for the explosion will be held to account.
“If similar incidents occur in the future, we would like to state that they do not involve us,” said Dala PDF.
The Cherry (1) passenger ferry is one of a number of ferries donated to Myanmar by Japan. It runs 46 times a day, carrying thousands of commuters between Yangon and Dala.
