YANGON- Five young people fell to death as security forces raided an apartment on 44th Street in Botahtaung Township, Yangon, and arrested them on the night of August 10, said some neighbourhood residents.

The security forces searched the upstairs of apartment No. 38. Residents say they heard a round of gunfire was heard. Afterwards, one woman and four men jumped into the back alley behind the building. All of them died, according to accounts of some neighbours.

The neighbors say all the deceased were young people while the two others from the flat were arrested and taken by the security forces. In connection to the incident, the government’s information team issued a statement on August 11 confirming two dead, three injured, and three arrested.

According to the government statement, acting on a tip-off that explosives were hidden on the fourth floor of apartment No.16, 44th Street, Ward No.6, Botahtaung Township, security forces searched the flat and arrested two men and one woman who were found with 16 homemade bombs, two soft gun powder bars and two packets each of which contains 50 fire crackers.

Those arrested are Thiha Set Aung, Wai Phyo Aung and Moe Kyawt Kyawt Khant. As the security forces searched the flat, four men and one woman tried to evade arrest and jumped off through a window of the third floor apartment. As stated in the statement, the search was conducted on the fourth floor, but it didn’t explain how they jumped off from the third floor.

As they jumped onto the concrete floor of the bottom of the building, one man and one woman died while three other men sustained injuries. However, the statement did not identify the deaths.

In connection to the case, a walkie-talkie audio file of the security forces went viral online on August 10 saying that four men and one woman jumped off the apartment through the back. Three could not survive at all and two others were dying, the audio file said.

Most people have confirmed that all the five who jumped off the building are dead. The father of Ye Min Oo, one of those who jumped, has also accepted his son’s death and requested the retrieval of the body for proper cremation. He made his request in an interview conducted by RFA news agency.

The three injured men who survived the fall have been sent to a 1,000-bed military hospital for medical treatment, the government statement said.