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Reuters

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.
Khin Maung Myint, a local member of the opposition National League for Democracy party, says according to rescuers, one body was pulled from the rubble and at least 30 people were missing.
Police said they could not yet confirm any fatalities.
The landslide took place on Friday in Hpakant in the country’s northern Kachin State, a rugged region sandwiched between China and India and the heart of Myanmar’s multibillion-dollar jade industry controlled by its powerful military.
“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.
READ MORE: Hopes dim for 100 miners missing after landslide near Myanmar jade mine
“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 November 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.


Dozens feared dead after another landslide in a Myanmar jade mine

Rescue workers are pictured at the site of a landslide on December 26, 2015 in Hpakant, Kachin State, the war-torn area that is the epicentre of Myanmar's secretive billion dollar jade industry. Rescuers were searching through mud and rubble after a new landslide buried workers in the remote jade mining region in northern Myanmar, the second such incident in just over a month. AFP PHOTO

Rescuers search through mud and rubble after a new landslide buried workers in the remote jade mining region in Kachin State, northern Myanmar. Photo: AFP

Hopes dim for 100 miners missing after landslide near Myanmar jade mine

(151122) -- HPAKANT, Nov. 22, 2015 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar soldiers and rescuers carry the bodies of miners in Hpakant, Myanmar's northernmost Kachin state, Nov. 22, 2015. At least 94 bodies have been recovered on Sunday, two days after a giant amount of dump soil from a jade mine collapsed in Myanmar's northernmost Kachin state. (Xinhua/MWD) 

At least 94 bodies have been recovered on Sunday, two days after a giant amount of dump soil from a jade mine collapsed in Myanmar's northernmost Kachin state. Photo: Xinhua

Nearly 100 bodies pulled from rubble after landslide strikes Myanmar jade mine

 Red Cross workers and people carry victims at a landslide affected area at Phakant jade mine, Kachin State, Myanmar. The landslide near the jade mine in northern Myanmar killed a number of people and left many missing

Myanmar only recently started moving from a half-century of dictatorship to democracy. Hpakant, the epicentre of the country’s jade boom, remains desperately poor, with bumpy dirt roads and constant electricity blackouts. Photo: AFP

Miners dig for raw jade stones in piles of waste rubble dumped by mechanical diggers, next to a jade mine in Hpakant, Myanmar's Kachin State. File photo: AFP

People look through their destroyed homes after a landslide at Phakant jade mine, Kachin State, Myanmar. Photo: Eleven Media Group via AP

People search for the miners killed by landslide at Hpa Kant jade mining area, Kachin State, northern Myanmar. The landslide took place on Saturday near jade and gold mines, when a 300-metre pile of waste rock accumulated during the mining process collapsed following rains in Hpakant, 350 kilometres north of Mandalay. Photo: EPA

Myanmar soldiers and rescuers carry the bodies of miners in Hpakant, Myanmar's northernmost Kachin state. At least 94 bodies have been recovered on Sunday. Photo: Xinhua

Myanmar's jade trade turns frantic as Chinese mining firms destroy environment to take stones while military government remains

A miner sits in a mine as he searches for jade stones at Hpakant jade mine in Kachin state, Myanmar, November 27, 2015. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

Miners search for jade stones at a mine dump in a Hpakant jade mine at Kachin state, Myanmar November 25, 2015. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

A miner takes a shower after he is done with work at Hpakant jade mine in Kachin state, Myanmar, November 27, 2015. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

ATTENTION EDITORS - VISUAL COVERAGE OF SCENES OF DEATH OR INJURYPeople look at the bodies of miners who were killed by a landslide in Hpakant jade mine at Kachin state November 21, 2015. Picture taken November 21, 2015. REUTERS/Stringer EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVE. TEMPLATE OUT

A miner searches for jade stones at Hpakant jade mine in Kachin state, Myanmar. Photo: Reuters

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Dozens feared dead after another landslide in a Myanmar jade mine

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