Worried for safety of their family and friends in Myanmar
SINGAPORE - Student Susan Pyi, 21, spends every waking hour here worried for the safety of her family in Myanmar. The Singaporean, who was born and raised there, has a seven-year-old brother who lives with their mother and grandmother in Yangon. Ms Pyi lives in Singapore with her father. She said her mother often hears gunshots near their apartment. Ms Pyi is most concerned about her brother, who likes to go onto the balcony, where stray bullets could pose a risk. "I've seen a lot of pictures of kids getting hurt, so I'm really worried about him," she said. To make matters worse, she loses contact with her family on days when the authorities in Myanmar cut off access to the Internet. "I don't know what's happening and I just feel so helpless," she said. Protests, largely led by young people, broke out in several cities in Myanmar after military officials staged a coup on Feb 1 and detained the country's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, along with many other leaders of the National League for Democracy - Myanmar's elected ruling party. The military crackdown which followed left many dead and injured, and more than 1,000 people were arrested. Amid the ensuing chaos, word spread that...
