Ramree
| Ramree | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Waters | Bay of Bengal | |
| Geographical location | 19 ° 7 ' N , 93 ° 47' E | |
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| length | 79 km | |
| width | 20 km | |
| surface | 1350 km² | |
| main place | Ramree | |
Ramree ( Burmese ရမ်း ဗြဲ ကျွန်း ) is the largest island in the Southeast Asian state of Myanmar (Burma) and the third largest in the Bay of Bengal . It is located off the coast and belongs to the state of Rakhine .
geography
The coast of Myanmar is characterized in this section by swamps with mangrove vegetation. Ramree is only separated from the mainland by a narrow canal 140 to 400 m wide over a distance of a good 8 km. The shape of the island is difficult to make out due to the swamps; large parts are under water, including an area of around 90 km² in the north of the island. In all four directions and in the northeast there are long, narrow, river-like inlets, the longest in the west (about 24 km) and in the northeast (about 18 km). The highest point is the 305-meter-high Zikha Taung hill near the west bank in the southern part. 2.3 km south of Ramree is the 21.6 km² inhabited island of Saga Kyun , 9 km southwest is Cheduba , which is about half the size of Ramree.
The main town of the island is the eponymous Ramree in the east (on the arm of the sea). Other larger settlements are the district capital Kyaukpyu on the northern tip (2014: 44,500 inhabitants), Sane north of the center of the island, Kyauk Ni Maw in the extreme south and Taungmo on the central northeast coast.
Infrastructure
A bridge over the canal connects the island with the mainland, the road leads to Sittwe in the north and Pyay in the south. In the other direction, the main road to Kyaupkyu Airport leads north, two roads branch off to Ramree. From Ramree one street each leads to the west, south-west and east, the first two cross at Ye Yu and lead even further south. Ports are in Kyaukpyu, Ramree and Hone Wa to the south. The other ports as well as Sittwe from Kyaukpyu and Taungup from Hone Wa are approached .
history
During the Second World War in January and February 1945, the Battle of Ramree (Operation Matador), part of the southern front 1944/45 of the Burma campaign of the 14th British Army, took place on the island , in which British soldiers under Cyril Lomax against part of the Japanese army fought under Kanichi Nagazawa. The battle ended in an Allied victory, the Japanese suffered great losses and were forced to flee to the swamps on the mainland side. Saltwater crocodiles are said to have killed around 400 of them here, and Guinness World Records recognizes this as the worst animal-caused disaster of all time . Only 20 Japanese are said to have escaped with their lives. However, since there are no reports from the British side and contemporary witnesses were unable to confirm the events, the story is now considered a modern legend . However, the deaths of 10 to 15 Japanese soldiers who were attacked by crocodiles while trying to cross the Min Chaung River near Ramree have been confirmed. In fact, many Japanese people have died while fleeing from other causes such as dehydration, drowning, British attacks and ambushes, dysentery and possibly even shark attacks. Overall, around half of the 1,000 Japanese soldiers died in the Battle of Ramree.
Saltwater crocodiles were widespread in the region until the 1960s, but there were only a few specimens left in the 1980s. This is probably related to the hunt for crocodiles.
pipeline
In 2011, construction began on a gas pipeline that runs along the coast of the Indian Ocean and transports oil from the Middle East and gas from the coast of Myanmar to the Chinese province of Yunnan . To this end, a deep-water port was built in Kyaukphyu on Ramree. This should reduce China's reliance on ocean pipelines and the Malakka Strait , and cut transportation time by two weeks. The pipeline fees and the sale of the gas are major sources of income for Myanmar. The Myanmar part of the pipeline was completed on June 12, 2013; the first gas flowed on October 21, 2013. The oil pipeline was completed in August 2014.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Prostar Sailing Directions 2005 India & Bay of Bengal. Enroute. National Geospatial-intelligence Agency (Feb 1, 2007). p. 168
- ↑ OpenStreetMap. In: openstreetmap.org. Retrieved March 24, 2020 .
- ↑ Jamie Frater: Top 10 Places You Don't Want To Visit - Listverse. In: listverse.com. June 16, 2014, accessed March 24, 2020 (English, 5th Ramree Island Burma).
- ↑ Steven G. Platt, Win Ko Ko, Lay Lay Khaing, Thomas R. Rainwater: Man Eating by Estuarine Crocodiles: The Ramree Island Massacre Revisited . In: Herpetological Bulletin (= British Library Serials ). tape 75 , 2001 (English).
- ↑ Thorbjarnarson et al. 2006.
- ↑ Kyaukpyu to Kunming pipeline construction officially commenced. In: Ramree Island Business & Travel News. August 18, 2011, accessed March 24, 2020 .
- ^ Graeme Jenkins: Burmese junta profits from Chinese pipeline - Telegraph. In: telegraph.co.uk. January 14, 2008, accessed March 24, 2020 .