Naing Tun Lin, the managing director at N.T.L. Construction Company – which allegedly developed the Sky Villa condominium in Mandalay – was arrested and charged by police under Section 304-A for criminal negligence in Aungmyaythazan Township, Mandalay Region, on Tuesday.
The 11-storey condo building collapsed in Mandalay, killing 200 of its tenants, during the earthquake on March 28. Section 304-A carries a minimum of seven to a maximum of 10 years in prison.
The N.T.L. Company reportedly paid 10 million MMK ($2,500 USD) each to the families of 146 tenants who died inside the building when it collapsed during the earthquake last year. The condo reportedly had over 400 tenants.
A tenant who lost four family members during the earthquake at Sky Villa told DVB that they wanted compensation equal to the value of their condo. Each was priced up to 650 million MMK ($160,000 USD), according to tenants.
The earthquake hit central Myanmar on March 28 with its epicenter in Sagaing Region. Mandalay, Bago, Magway, Naypyidaw and southern Shan State were five of the six hardest hit regions.
At least 4,477 people were killed during the quake nationwide with 2,916 of them killed in Mandalay Region, which is the highest death toll of any region, according to DVB data.
The regime death toll is 3,773 killed with 653 survivors rescued from the rubble of collapsed buildings nationwide. It has documented that 48,834 houses, 3,094 monasteries and nunneries, 2,045 schools, 2,171 offices and buildings, 148 bridges, and 5,275 pagodas, were destroyed during the earthquake.
