At least 36 people were feared dead at a jade mine in northern Myanmar after being swept into a lake by a huge landslide, a rescue worker and local journalist said on Monday.
The accident happened on Sunday in the remote town of Hpakant, the centre of Myanmar’s secretive jade industry, where scavengers risk their lives picking through unstable earth and rubble excavated by mining companies, searching for small pieces of the semi-precious stone. More than 100 rescue workers were looking for survivors, a member of the rescue team said by phone, declining to be identified due to safety concerns. Eight people were injured and taken to hospital on Sunday.
“We haven’t found a body yet, but we are still searching,” he said.
Citing witnesses, Tar Lin Maung, a local journalist said the waste heap that collapsed on Sunday was about 492ft high.
“There is no chance that they would survive in this muddy lake,” Tar Lin Maung said.
Another rescue worker confirmed that attempts to recover people were ongoing despite fears of secondary landslides.
“It is not safe for rescue workers to search it,” said the individual, who was with the emergency group Myanmar Rescue and also requested anonymity.
He added that the mine’s operations had been suspended during the rainy season, but those caught in the landslide were believed to be locals hoping to strike it rich by scouring the mud.
Accidents are common in poorly regulated mines of Hpakant, which has seen some of Asia’s worst mining disasters, including a landslide in 2020 that killed at least 170 people.
Myanmar produces about 90% of the world’s jade, large quantities of which are sold in China.
The industry is worth billions of dollars each year to Myanmar’s ruling military and business allies, according to activists.
The highly lucrative jade mining industry is mostly unregulated, with migrant workers enduring dangerous conditions and frequently deadly accidents.
Jade and other abundant natural resources in Myanmar’s north — including timber, gold and amber — have helped finance both sides of a decades-long civil war between ethnic Kachin insurgents and the military.