Search for survivors in jade mine landslide in Myanmar

YANGON • A landslide at a jade mine in northern Myanmar yesterday killed at least one person, injured 25 others and left dozens missing, a member of the rescue team said.

Scores die each year working in the country's lucrative but poorly regulated jade trade, which uses lowly paid migrant workers to scrape out a gem highly coveted in neighbouring China.

The disaster struck at a mine in Hpakant township, close to the Chinese border in Kachin state, where billions of dollars' worth of the precious mineral is believed to be scoured from bare hillsides each year.

"About 70 to 100 people are missing" following the landslide that struck around 4am, said rescue team member Ko Nyi. "We've sent 25 injured people to hospital while we've found one dead."

Hundreds of diggers had returned to Hpakant during the rainy season to prospect in the treacherous open-cast mines, according to a local activist, despite a junta ban on digging until March next year.

"They mine at night and, in the morning, they tip out the earth and rock," said the activist, adding that the added weight had caused the land to slip down into the lake.

Mr Ko Nyi said increased pressure from the weight of dumped soil and rock had pushed the ground downhill into the lake.

Around 200 rescuers were working to recover bodies, with some using boats to search for the dead in a nearby lake, he added.

Access to the mines in the remote north of the country is heavily restricted by the military and Internet access is patchy.

Local outlet Kachin News Group said 20 miners had been killed in the landslide. Last year, heavy rainfall triggered a massive landslide in Hpakant that entombed nearly 300 miners.

Watchdog Global Witness estimated that the industry was worth some US$31 billion (S$42 billion) in 2014.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE