Myanmar landslide kills at least 113 at jade mine: report
Mine in center of world's biggest, most lucrative jade mining industry
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Rescue workers say at least 113 people have been killed in a landslide at a jade mining site in northern Myanmar. The Ministry of Information cited the local fire service when giving the death toll at the site of the landslide in Hpakant in Kachin state.
Maung Myint, a lawmaker from Hpakant where the accident occurred, said the rescue groups with which he had been in contact said 113 bodies have been recovered and 54 injured sent to hospitals.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A landslide at a jade mine in northern Myanmar killed 50 people Thursday, the central government said, though a local lawmaker said the toll was nearly twice as high. (Google Maps)
The website of 7Day News Journal reported earlier that 200 people were unaccounted for.
Other details of the accident were not immediately available.
Accidents at such mining sites causing multiple casualties are not rare.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The victims are normally freelance miners who settle near giant mounds of discarded earth that has been mined in bulk by heavy machinery. The freelance miners who scavenge for bits of jade usually work and live at the base of the mounds of earth, which become particularly unstable during the rainy season.