Myanmar dam breach floods 85 villages, thousands driven from homes

SWAR CREEK DAM, Myanmar (Reuters) - As many as 85 villages were flooded in Myanmar after a dam failed, unleashing waters that blocked a major highway and forced more than 63,000 people from their homes, a state-run newspaper said on Thursday.

The disaster spotlights safety concerns about dams in Southeast Asia after last month's collapse of a hydroelectric dam in neighbouring Laos that displaced thousands of people and killed at least 27.