After a landslide at an unlicensed jade mine in a remote area of Myanmar, rescuers have found 25 fatalities, while 14 people are still missing.
The landslide happened on Sunday outside the northern Kachin township of Hpakant. Myanmar has recently been battered by severe rain and flooding.
Although jade mining is a lucrative industry in Myanmar, it is unregulated and frequently results in worker casualties, including more than 170 fatalities in the same location after a 2020 landslide.
“We found 25 dead bodies in total today,” a rescue worker told AFP on Tuesday, adding that 14 people were still missing and the recovery effort would continue Wednesday.
Others were floating in the water, and rescuers had to dig through mud to find the dead.
Rescuers claim that a huge mound of earth that was left behind by mining excavations and stood 150–180 meters (500–600 feet) high collapsed after being loosened by heavy rain.
The mine’s operations had been put on hold during the rainy season, but it was thought that the people trapped in the landslide were locals looking for treasure in the mud.
To extract a diamond that is highly prized in neighboring China, the jade business depends on low-paid migrant workers.
Jade and other abundant natural resources in northern Myanmar, such as timber, gold, and amber, have contributed to the financing of both sides in the long-running civil war between the military and ethnic Kachin rebels.
Despite the fact that rights and environmental organizations have long urged for reforms, a military coup in 2021, according to international watchdogs, virtually put an end to expectations for higher industrial standards.
