A landslide at a remote jade mine in northern Myanmar’s Kachin state killed one person and left at least 70 missing Wednesday and a search and rescue operation was underway, rescue officials said.
Reports were scant from the area in Hpakant, which is the center of the world’s biggest and most lucrative jade mining industry. It’s a region where sporadic fighting has broken out between the Myanmar army and ethnic guerrilla forces.
Reports were scant from the area in Hpakant, which is the center of the world’s biggest and most lucrative jade mining industry. It’s a region where sporadic fighting has broken out between the Myanmar army and ethnic guerrilla forces.
Gayunar Rescue Team official Nyo Chaw, who was coordinating the effort, said more than 70 miners who were digging for jade were swept into a lake a couple of hours before dawn when the landslide hit. Earth and waste from several mines around Lonekhin village slid 60 meters (about 200 feet) down a cliff and struck the miners, he said.
At least five young women and three small shops were also buried in Wednesday’s landslide. The body of a jade worker was unearthed from heavy mud by midday, Nyo Chaw said.
Hpakant is a mountainous and remote area in Kachin state, 950 kilometers (600 miles) north of Myanmar’s biggest city, Yangon. A ceasefire in the region has been disrupted since a Feb. 1 coup ousted Aung San Suu Kyi and her elected government.
