bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

More than 50 people are feared killed after a landslide in northern Myanmar engulfed jade miners while they were sleeping, local police said on Tuesday, the latest deadly accident in a notoriously dangerous industry.
Dozens die each year in landslides caused by jade mining, a notoriously corrupt and poorly-regulated industry concentrated near the country’s border with China.

Police described a freak accident in Kachin state on Monday night so big it created a huge “mud lake” that buried the miners as well as some 40 vehicles.
“Fifty-four people are missing in the mud,” a duty officer from Hpakant township police station said, asking not to be named, adding that only two bodies had been recovered so far. “There’s no way they could have survived.”
The Ministry of Information confirmed the accident and number of missing, adding that the area was mined by Myanmar Thura Gems and Shwe Nagar Koe Kaung companies.
Myanmar Thura Gems director Hla Soe Oo said he was going to the site but did not have any more details.
Local media shared images showing the walls of a mine stretching vertically a couple of hundred metres above a vast pool of mud, revealing only the tops of two yellow excavation vehicles.
Hundreds of onlookers gathered nearby, staring at the disaster site and taking photos with their phones.


Fatal landslides are common in the mines with victims often from impoverished ethnic communities looking for scraps left behind by big firms.
A major landslide in November 2015 left more than 100 dead.
The jade industry is largely driven by an insatiable demand from neighbouring China.
Watchdog Global Witness estimated that it was worth some US$31 billion in 2014, although very little reaches state coffers.
Northern Myanmar’s abundant natural resources – including jade, timber, gold and amber – help finance both sides of a decades-long civil war between ethnic Kachin insurgents and the military.
The fight to control the mines and the revenues they bring frequently traps local civilians in the middle.
A 17-year ceasefire broke down in 2011 and since then more than 100,000 people have been displaced by fighting.
On coming to power in 2016, civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi promised to make the peace process with the country’s myriad armed groups her top priority – a pledge that has yet to yield significant results.


Myanmar drivers scramble for petrol as Iran war cuts supply

Singapore police seize yacht, cars, properties worth US$390 million in Prince Group probe

Thailand’s PTT to freeze pump prices as Iran attacks spur panic buying in Mekong area

Myanmar convicts charged as ‘terrorists’ by junta freed in mass amnesty

Myanmar

More than 50 feared killed in landslide at Myanmar jade mine

People gathered at the jade mine in Hpakant, Kachin state, Myanmar on April 23, 2019. Photo: Reuters

Local people look on in a jade mine where the mud dam collapsed in Hpakant, Kachin state, Myanmar April 23, 2019. REUTERS/Stringer

News

Asia

Southeast Asia

Police described a freak accident at the mine in Kachin state on Monday night so big it created a huge ‘mud lake’ that buried miners and some 40 vehicles


Police described a freak accident at the mine in Kachin state on Monday night so big it created a huge ‘mud lake’ that buried miners and some 40 vehicles.


More than 50 feared killed in landslide at Myanmar jade mine

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Police described a freak accident at the mine in Kachin state on Monday night so big it created a huge ‘mud lake’ that buried miners and some 40 vehicles

Police described a freak accident at the mine in Kachin state on Monday night so big it created a huge ‘mud lake’ that buried miners and some 40 vehicles