Photo Essays | Society | Southeast Asia

Survivors of Myanmar’s Landmine Blasts Struggle With Severed Limbs and Shattered Lives

The pain from their injuries hasn’t gone away. Meanwhile, they face challenges in earning a livelihood.

Sofayatullah from Kung Taung village in Buthidaung township in Myanmar’s Rakhine State had earned a reputation for ferrying the maximum number of boat passengers every day. He also sold firewood occasionally for extra income. All that changed on December 19, 2023, when he placed a pile of firewood at a spot near his village where a landmine planted by the Myanmar military’s Infantry Battalion 551 exploded. “I remember hearing a deafening sound before falling unconscious. Then I realized that my left ankle was severed,” he recalled. Sofayatullah was taken to Buthidaung hospital by his father and other residents of the village, where another portion of his leg below the knee was amputated due to splinters. He continues to work as a boatman but no longer sells firewood.

When Win Khin regained consciousness at a hospital in Sittwe she thought she was dead. “I could not see anything. Then I understood that I was blind,” she recalled. Win Khin, a community leader from the village of Lay Hla at Paletwa in Myanmar’s Chin State, is a mother of two children. On January 30, 2024, when she had gone to gather firewood in the forest, she stepped on a landmine. She was unconscious, her right leg already severed, when her relatives took her on a long journey by road and river to the Sittwe hospital. There she underwent a series of operations for the removal of splinters from her nose, face, neck, and hips. She cannot walk now and moves in a wheelchair.

Maung Aung Hlaing was living with his wife and three children at an IDP camp in Buthidaung’s Shwebo village in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. On August 3, 2024, while returning home with seven other people after gathering vegetables on a hill, he stepped on a landmine. The blast immediately severed his left leg. His friends carried him to Buthidaung hospital, where splinters were removed from his chest, stomach, and right leg. He is currently employed as a daily wage worker to chop vegetables at a restaurant near the IDP camp where he stays.

Mohammad Taker is a resident of Kung Taung village in Buthidaung township of Myanmar’s Rakhine State, who earned his livelihood as a supplier at construction sites. On February 9, 2024, three months before the township witnessed an intense battle between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army, Mohammad Taker was returning home after gathering bamboo when his machete touched a spot on the ground. A landmine went off, and the blast severed his left ankle immediately. His parents admitted him to Buthidaung hospital, where another chunk of his left leg was amputated below the knee due to splinters. “I have opened a small shop to earn a livelihood as I can no longer supply items to construction sites,” Taker said. His artificial leg was procured at a “high cost” and with great difficulty six months ago.

Teenagers Maung Tun Naing (left) and Maung Tun Sein are friends from Thi Ho Aye village in Buthidaung township of Myanmar’s Rakhine State. On April 27, 2025, they went deep into the hills to gather bamboo shoots when disaster struck. On their way home, they placed a basket filled with bamboo shoots on the ground. That triggered a blast. While Maung Tun Sein’s right ankle was severed on the spot, Maung Tun Naing’s right leg was bleeding profusely; it was amputated the following day at Buthidaung hospital. “Our lives have been shattered,” Maung Tun........

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