48 of 80 SCDF officers in Myanmar rescue efforts are Muslim: When duty called, they stepped up

The Minister for Home Affairs and Law K Shanmugam spoke about the current SCDF rescue efforts in Myanmar, at the sidelines of a Hari Raya engagement at Masjid Ahmad Ibrahim in Seletar on March 31, 2025, which happens to be Hari Raya Puasa.

Shanmugam pointed out that 48 officers of the 80-member SCDF rescue team currently in Myanmar (and missing celebrating Hari Raya with their families) are Muslim.

"...our SCDF officers who went in the, you know, in the course of duty, two days ago, they left Singapore, 80 of them, 48 of them are Muslim officers.

They are there working day and night. I think some of you would have read they spent eight hours yesterday rescuing a man from deep under the rubble.

You know, they were planning for their Hari Raya to be with their loved ones, their family. So now, when the duty called, they stepped up. They went, they are away. So we think of them, we thank them, and we thank their families too for making the sacrifice. It's a very noble act to go out there help other people far away. So we think of all the people around the world"

Rescue efforts

A 80-member contingent was deployed to Myanmar in response to a request for humanitarian assistance, said the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) on Mar. 29.

The contingent includes rescuers from the elite Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (DART), operationally-ready National Servicemen (NSmen), full-time NSmen medical doctors, paramedics, search specialists with four dogs, hazardous materials specialists, and support officers.

They departed from Changi Airport at 1:20pm on Mar. 29.

Rescued a man from Rubble

The SCDF team has already taken part in an 8-hour joint-rescue operation with the local fire department.

The SDCF Operation Lionheart contingent in Myanmar helped rescue a man who was trapped in a semi-collapsed three-storey residential building.

In a Facebook post on Mar. 30, SCDF stated that the team responded to a call for assistance at a collapsed building along Ngu Wag Road in Naypyidaw; local authorities had found a man trapped in the structure.

SCDF worked with local rescuers from the Naypyidaw Fire Service Department and gained access to the semi-collapsed building through a narrow passage to rescue the man trapped underneath the concrete slabs.

Fortunately, the man was conscious and could communicate with the rescue team.

Throughout the operation, the team kept in contact with the man and water was provided through a plastic tube inserted through the crevices between the concrete slabs.

At around 11 am (Singapore time), the man was successfully rescued, and an SCDF paramedic assessed him to be stable and conscious before conveying him to a local hospital.

Image from SCDF