Live
- Exams will not be cancelled: BPSC chairman
- Nagesh Trophy: Karnataka, T.N win in Group A; Bihar, Rajasthan triumph in Group B
- Economic and digital corridors to maritime connectivity, India and Italy building vision for future, says Italian Ambassador
- SMAT 2024: Patidar's heroics guide Madhya Pradesh to final after 13 years
- CCPA issues notices to 17 entities for violating direct selling rules
- Mamata expresses satisfaction over speedy conviction in minor girl rape-murder case
- Transparent Survey Process for Indiramma Housing Scheme Directed by District Collector
- District SP T Srinivas Rao, IPS, Conducts Annual Inspection at Dharur Police Station
- Job Fair for Pharmacy Retail Store Opportunities in Dharur and Hyderabad
- Focus on Employment, Not Liquor Shops: Ramachandra Reddy Demands Youth Empowerment in Telangana
Dozens feared dead after landslide hits Myanmar jade mine
Highlights
Dozens of people were feared dead in Myanmar after a landslide hit a jade mining region, workers at a local mining firm said, the second such incident in just over a month.
Dozens of people were feared dead in Myanmar after a landslide hit a jade mining region, workers at a local mining firm said, the second such incident in just over a month.
The landslide took place on Friday in Hpakant in the country's northern Kachin State.
"We heard about 50 people were buried in the collapsed dump and four or five bodies were found this morning," Sai Lon, who works at a jade mining company in the area, said on Saturday.
Police in Hpakant, in Mohnyin district, said the landslide took place on Friday afternoon but that they could not confirm casualties.
"We haven't heard anything from the rescue team yet," said a duty officer at Hpakant Township Police Station who declined to be named.
On Nov. 22, a massive landslide in the same mountainous area in Kachin State killed 114 people. The area produces some of the world's highest-quality jade.
Deaths in Myanmar's jade mines, where small time prospectors and massive firms vie for the precious stone, underscore the sector's lax safety rules and lack of accountability.
Much of the jade mined in Hpakant is believed to be smuggled to neighbouring China, where the green stone is highly prized and is widely believed to bring wealth and longevity.
About 800 jade mining firms operate around the town, but activity is dominated by about 10 firms, mostly Chinese-led ventures, according to the Ministry of Mines.
Miners have been tearing into Myanmar's northern hills in recent months, in a rush to excavate more jade from the world's richest deposits of the gemstone before a new government, which has promised clean governance, takes office next year.
The rush has led to thousands of ethnic villagers being forced off their land.
The newly elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party said last month it plans to tighten control over jade mines.
A US ban on Myanmar jade remains in place over concerns that jade mining benefits military figures and fuels corruption and rights abuses, despite Washington easing most of its ban on imports from the country after a quasi-civilian government took power in 2011 following five decades of military dictatorship.
Next Story
ADVERTISEMENT
