JADE-(MaraviPost)-At least 113 have been confirmed dead and several others injured following landslide at a Jade mine in northern Myanmar
Authorities on Thursday morning disclosed that rescue workers recovered 113 bodies with many more others still missing after a heap of mining waste collapsed into a lake, triggering a wave of mud and water.
In a Facebook post the fire service department said the miners were collecting stones in the jade-rich Hpakant area of Kachin state when the “muddy wave” crashed onto them as a result of heavy rain,
Tar Lin Maung, a local official with the information ministry revealed to Reuters other bodies are in the mud with the number of casualties still rising every minute.
Deadly landslides and other accidents are common in the poorly regulated mines of Hpakant and almost 100 people were killed in a collapse in 2015.
The government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi pledged to clean up the industry when it took power in 2016 but nothing had been done yet. Official sales of jade in Myanmar was estimated at 671 million euros ($750 million) in 2016-17 as part of an Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.
