The number of people killed in Myanmar following a powerful earthquake has risen to 1,644, and 3,408 others injured, according to local reports.
Local reports also said a further 139 people are missing across the country.
It comes as dramatic footage shows the moment a building several stories high collapsed into rubble in Mandalay.
Survivors in the city dug with their bare hands in a desperate attempt to find trapped people.
It struck at around 12.50pm local time (6.20am UK time) on Friday at a shallow depth of six miles.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
1:04
Rescuers look for survivors of Myanmar earthquake
The quake’s epicentre was about 10 miles from the second city of Mandalay.
There were also aftershocks, with one measuring a strong 6.4 magnitude 12 minutes later.
The King sent a message of condolence. “I know that the people of Myanmar continue to endure so much hardship and tragedy in your lives, and I have long admired your extraordinary resilience and spirit,” he said in a statement.
“At this most difficult and heartbreaking of times, my wife and I send our deepest possible sympathy to all those who have suffered the profound tragedy of losing their loved ones, their homes and their precious livelihoods.”
The first major disaster to suffer the brunt of Trump’s aid cuts
This will be the first natural disaster to happen after President Donald Trump shut down America’s international aid agency with potentially devastating consequences.
The impact in the aftermath of this earthquake is likely to be severe. Trump’s decision to shut down the US Agency for International Development was already reported to have decimated US aid operations in Myanmar. Its global impact is hard to overstate. American aid had provided 40% of developmental aid worldwide.
Yesterday, Trump promised Myanmar aid for the earthquake. In reality, his administration has fired most of the people most experienced at organising that help and shut down the means to provide it.
The last of its staff were ironically only let go yesterday, even as the president was making lofty promises to help.
The US State Department says it has maintained a team of experts in the country. But former USAID officials say the system is now ‘in shambles’ without the wherewithal to conduct search and rescue or transfer aid.
China‘s President Xi Jinping has also sent his condolences to Myanmar’s leader Min Aung Hlaing after the earthquake, and, according to the Chinese embassy in Myanmar, they have spoken on the phone.
A Chinese rescue team arrived in Yangon, Myanmar’s former capital, early on Saturday while Russia and the US have also offered to provide humanitarian assistance and relief.
Image: A rescue worker at the site of a collapsed building in Bangkok. Pic: Reuters
Neighbouring Thailand was also affected by the quake, leaving at least seven people dead, eight injured and 47 missing.
Buildings in five of Myanmar‘s cities and towns collapsed, along with a railway bridge and a road bridge on the Yangon-Mandalay Expressway, state media reported. A dam has also burst.
The control tower Naypyitaw, airport, which serves the capital city, has collapsed meaning runways cannot be used.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
0:33
Swimming pool shakes as earthquake hits
Recalling the moment they left their home in Mandalay, one resident said they “ran out of the house as everything started shaking”.
They said they “witnessed a five-storey building collapse in front of [their] eyes”, adding, “everyone in my town is out on the road and no one dares to go back inside buildings”.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
2:17
What made the earthquake so powerful?
The natural disaster – the largest earthquake in this region in nearly 80 years – comes as the country is in the grip of a civil war.
Search efforts continued on Saturday morning in Bangkok as the city’s governor, Chadchart Sittipunt, said people were believed to be alive in the wreckage at three construction sites, including one where a partially built high-rise collapsed.
Most of the city’s metro and light rail resumed normal operation on Saturday morning, according to their operators.
Major General Zaw Min Tun, a spokesperson for the military government, told MRTV that blood was in high demand in earthquake-hit areas, as he urged donors to contact hospitals as soon as possible.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
1:20
Sky reports from site of collapsed building
United Nations spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said UN staff were working to gather information on the number of people impacted by the earthquake and the scope of the humanitarian needs.
Image: The earthquake struck Myanmar and Thailand, and tremors also affected Laos, Vietnam, and Bangladesh
The ruling military junta said a state of emergency has been declared in Sagaing Region, Mandalay Region, Magway Region and northeastern Shan State, Nay Pyi Taw Council Area, and Bago Region.
“The government has ordered a rapid investigation of the damage in these areas,” the junta added in a statement.
“We will carry out relief and relief operations promptly. We will also work to provide necessary disaster relief and humanitarian assistance.”
The Red Cross has said its attempts to reach Mandalay and Sagaing regions and the southern Shan state are made more challenging by downed power lines.
China will provide 100 million yuan (£10.63m) worth of aid to Myanmar, including tents, blankets, emergency medical kits, food and water.
The first batch is set to arrive on 31 March, according to the Chinese embassy’s Facebook page.
Donald Trump has described crucial trade talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping as “amazing” – and says he will visit Beijing in April.
The leaders of the world’s two biggest economies met in South Korea as they tried to defuse growing tensions – with both countries imposing aggressive tariffs on exports since the president’s second term began.
Aboard Air Force One, Mr Trump confirmed tariffs on Chinese goods exported to the US will be reduced, which could prove much-needed relief to consumers.
It was also agreed that Beijing will work “hard” to stop fentanyl flowing into the US.
Semiconductor chips were another issue raised during their 100-minute meeting, but the president admitted certain issues weren’t discussed.
“On a scale of one to 10, the meeting with Xi was 12,” he told reporters en route back to the US.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
2:08
‘Their handshake was almost a bit awkward’
Xi a ‘tough negotiator’, says Trump
The talks conclude a whirlwind visit across Asia – with Mr Trump saying he was “too busy” to see Kim Jong Un.
However, the president said he would be willing to fly back to see the North Korean leader, with a view to discussing denuclearisation.
Mr Trump had predicted negotiations with his Chinese counterpart would last for three or four hours – but their meeting ended in less than two.
The pair shook hands before the summit, with the US president quipping: “He’s a tough negotiator – and that’s not good!”
It marks the first face-to-face meeting between both men since 2019 – back in Mr Trump’s first term.
Image: Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. Pic: AP
There were signs that Beijing had extended an olive branch to Washington ahead of the talks, with confirmation China will start buying US soybeans again.
American farmers have been feeling the pinch since China stopped making purchases earlier this year – not least because the country was their biggest overseas market.
Chinese stocks reached a 10-year high early on Thursday as investors digested their meeting, with the yuan rallying to a one-year high against the US dollar.
Analysis: A fascinating power play
Sky News Asia correspondent Helen-Ann Smith – who is in Busan where the talks took place – said it was fascinating to see the power play between both world leaders.
She said: “Trump moved quickly to dominate the space – leaning in, doing all the talking, even responding very briefly to a few thrown questions.
“That didn’t draw so much as an eyebrow raise from his counterpart, who was totally inscrutable. Xi does not like or respond well to unscripted moments, Trump lives for them.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
2:43
Will Trump really run for a third term?
On Truth Social, Mr Trump had described the summit as a gathering of the “G2” – a nod to America and China’s status as the world’s two biggest economies.
While en route to see President Xi, he also revealed that the US “Department of War” has now been ordered to start testing nuclear weapons for the first time since 1992.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the Sudanese city of Al Fashir by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in a two-day window after the paramilitary group captured the regional capital, analysts believe.
Sky News is not able to independently verify the claim by Yale Humanitarian Labs, as the city remains under a telecommunications blackout.
Stains and shapes resembling blood and corpses can be seen from space in satellite images analysed by the research lab.
Image: Al Fashir University. Pic: Airbus DS/2025
Image: Al Fashir University. Pic: Airbus DS/2025
Nathaniel Raymond, executive director of Yale Humanitarian Labs, said: “In the past 48 hours since we’ve had [satellite] imagery over Al Fashir, we see a proliferation of objects that weren’t there before RSF took control of Al Fashir – they are approximately 1.3m to 2m long which is critical because in satellite imagery at very high resolution, that’s the average length of a human body lying vertical.”
Mini Minawi, the governor of North Darfur, said on X that 460 civilians have been killed in the last functioning hospital in the city.
The Sudan Doctors Network has also shared that the RSF “cold-bloodedly killed everyone they found inside Al Saudi Hospital, including patients, their companions, and anyone else present in the wards”.
World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was “appalled and deeply shocked” by the reports.
Satellite images support the claims of a massacre at Al Saudi Hospital, according to Mr Raymond, who said YHL’s report detailed “a large pile of them [objects believed to be bodies] against a wall at one building at Saudi hospital. And we believe that’s consistent with reports that patients and staff were executed en masse”.
In a video message released on Wednesday, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo acknowledged “violations in Al Fashir” and claimed “an investigation committee should start to hold any soldier or officer accountable”.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
3:00
Army soldiers ‘fled key Sudan city’ before capture
Image: The Saudi Maternity Hospital in Al Fashir. Pic: Airbus DS /2025 via AP
The commander is known for committing atrocities in Darfur in the early 2000s as a Janjaweed militia leader, and the RSF has been accused of carrying out genocide in Darfur 20 years on.
Sources have told Sky News the RSF is holding doctors, journalists and politicians captive, demanding ransoms from some families to release their loved ones.
One video shows a man from Al Fashir with an armed man kneeling on the ground, telling his family to pay 15,000. The currency was not made clear.
In some cases, ransoms have been paid, but then more messages come demanding that more money be transferred to secure release.
Muammer Ibrahim, a journalist based in the city, is currently being held by the RSF, who initially shared videos of him crouched on the ground, surrounded by fighters, announcing his hometown had been captured under duress.
He is being held incommunicado as his family scrambles to negotiate his release. Muammer courageously covered the siege of Al Fashir for months, enduring starvation and shelling.
The Committee to Protect Journalists regional director Sara Qudah said the abduction of Muammar Ibrahim “is a grave and alarming reminder that journalists in Al Fashir are being targeted simply for telling the truth”.