Ramree Island

Ramree Island

Location of Ramree Island in Burma

Ramree Island (Burmese: ရမ်းဗြဲကျွန်း; also spelt Yangbye Island or Yanbye Island) is an island off the coast of Rakhine State, Burma. The area of the island is about 1350 km² and the main populated center is Ramree. The Battle of Ramree Island took place here for six weeks during January and February 1945, as part of the British Fourteenth Army 1944/45 offensive on the Southern Front of the Burma Campaign during World War II. Ramree island is also the place credited with "The Greatest Disaster Suffered [by humans] from Animals". An estimated 400 Japanese soldiers were forced into the marshes surrounding the island as the British soldiers closed in. Waiting for these soldiers were very large and aggressive saltwater crocodiles. After the Japanese infantry was forced into the murky waters, the ensuing night was so horrific that Guinness World Records lists Ramree island with this dubious title. Ramree Island is also the location of a proposed gas pipeline system to be built on the Indian Ocean coast to the province of Yunnan in China. From a deep water port to be completed on Kyaukphyu in Rakhine State and from Ramree Island, oil from the Middle East and gas from Burma's ocean coast will be transported through the pipelines to China.

The pipelines will enable China to rely less on ocean-transported oil and gas through the treacherous Strait of Malacca and will also cut two weeks off the potential transport time. The pipeline transport fees will be a source of revenue for the Burma government, on top of the sale of the gas.

Construction has begun on January 2008.

See also

• List of islands of Burma