At least 90 people have died in a landslide in a jade mining area in northern Myanmar, AFP reports, citing a local administrative authority official.
The rescue operation is ongoing, the report cited Nilar Myint, an official from Hpakant, northern Kachin state, as saying.|Those killed were thought to have been scavenging through waste rubble dumped by mechanical diggers used by the mining firms to extract jade, accord to the report.
Rescuers were thought to still be battling to dig through the mountains of loose rubble at the site on Sunday, in the latest deadly accident to affect Myanmar’s secretive multi-billion dollar jade industry in war-torn Kachin.
Those killed were thought to have been scavenging through a mountain of waste rubble dumped by mechanical diggers used by the mining firms in the area to extract Myanmar’s most valuable precious stone.
Landslides are a common hazard in the area as people living off the industry’s waste pick their way across perilous mounds, driven by the hope that they might find a chunk of jade worth thousands of dollars.
Scores have been killed this year alone as local people say the mining firms, many of which are linked to the country’s junta-era military elite, scale up their operations in Kachin.
