The 19-year-old woman was standing with a group of about a dozen people on Feb. 9, peacefully protesting the recent military coup in Myanmar, when suddenly, she dropped to the ground.
A bullet fired by Myanmar troops had pierced the motorcycle helmet that Mya Thwet Thwet Khine was wearing. For more than a week, she lay in a hospital bed in Myanmar's capital, passing her 20th birthday while unconscious.
Mya Thwet Thwet Khine died from her injuries Friday morning, becoming the first confirmed fatality in the ongoing confrontation between protesters and the Myanmar military. On Sunday, thousands of mourners lined the streets of Naypyitaw, as a hearse carried her golden coffin and hundreds of motorbikes trailed behind.
The mourners raised three fingers to the sky — a gesture of solidarity introduced in The Hunger Games, which has been adopted by young Myanmar activists.
If the Myanmar military hoped their show of strength would quell dissent, Mya Thwet Thwet Khine's death could very well lead to the opposite. "Please participate and continue fighting until we achieve our goal," her sister Mya Thatoe Nwe said from the hospital's mortuary, The Associated Press reported.