U San Lin states that the bell has been found near the convergence of the Rangoon River, Pegu River, and Pazundaung Creek, and that his group will attempt to extract the bell as soon as possible.
“The great bell is already found. After everyone confirms that it is the great Dhammazedi bell, we will report it in the news,” said U San Lin, in an interview with IMNA.
“To salvage the bell with the weight of 180,000 viss (294 tons) of metal right away is not possible yet,” he continues, “ We will again report about this to [the] division government, and after getting ready to salvage [the bell], we will report about it.”
“We, everyone in this river, have already confirmed [it is the Dhammazedi bell]. To salvage it, we are tying the bell [with ropes], but which day to salvage it is unknown,” said Nai Min Aung, Vice-Chairman of the Dhammazedi Bell Salvage Supporting Sub-Committee.
Ten ethnic Monken, known as ‘sea gypsies’, and others from the 70-member Dhammazedi Bell salvage team, dive into the river in the mornings when the water is high, and again in the evenings, but on days when the current is strong, they can only dive once per day, according to the salvage team.
U San Lin led the salvage team divers in pursuit of the great bell, and found it a few days ago. Since the team cannot yet confirm it is the Great Dhammazedi Bell, the team has not officially reported their findings.
With permission from the Rangoon Division government, the salvage team began their search for the bell on July 9th, commencing an estimated two week, 200 million kyat search for the bell.
Some observers state that the bell can only be confirmed as the Dhammazedi Bell once it has been taken to land.
According to some historical records, in the 16th century the Portuguese warlord Filipe De Brito e Nicote, known as Nga Zinka, removed the bell from the Shwe Dagon Pagoda with plans to melt it down to make cannons. However, the raft transporting the bell broke and sank at the site know as monkey point, located at the convergence of the Pegu River, Rangoon River, and Pazundaung Creek.
