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https://scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/1881733/dozens-bodies-pulled-rubble-after-landslide-strikes-myanmar Southeast Asia
Nearly 100 bodies pulled from rubble after landslide strikes Myanmar jade mine
The region bordering China is home to some of the world’s highest quality jade, bringing in billions of dollars a year, though researchers say most of that money goes to individuals and companies tied to Myanmar’s former military rulers
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
Nearly 100 bodies have been pulled from a landslide near a jade mine in Myanmar’s northern Kachin State and an estimated 100 people are still missing, a rescue official said on Sunday.
An official with the Hpakant Township Fire Brigade told Reuters by telephone that 99 bodies had been recovered by late Sunday afternoon and that this number was likely to rise.
"We are sure the death toll will go up since many are still missing," he said.
People look through their destroyed homes after a landslide at Phakant jade mine, Kachin State, Myanmar. Photo: Eleven Media Group via AP
The official, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said that the accident occurred near a mining site controlled by Triple One Jade Mining at around 3 a.m.
A local lawmaker and another rescue worker also confirmed the figures.
The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said on Sunday that many of the miners were sleeping in huts when the landslide occurred.
Myanmar’s jade industry is extremely opaque and much of the jade that is mined in Hpakant is believed to be smuggled to neighbouring China where the stone is highly valued.
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
According to researchers from environmental advocacy group Global Witness, which published a comprehensive report on the sector earlier this year, the value of jade production in Myanmar is estimated to have been as much as US$31 billion in 2014.
Many of the jade mines are connected to government officials, members of armed ethnic groups and cronies with close ties to the former military government, the group found.
Local people in Hpakant complain of a litany of abuses associated with the mining industry, including the frequency of accidents and land confiscations.
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
The area has been turned into a moonscape of environmental destruction as huge diggers gouge the earth looking for jade.
Safety measures at the mines and surrounding dumping sites are minimal.
"These crony-owned mining companies piled this giant mine dump near the village without any consideration for the safety of the village that has existed all along," the fire official said.
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
Itinerant miners are drawn from all parts of Myanmar by the promise of riches and become easy prey for drug addiction in Hpakant, where heroin and methamphetamine are cheaply available on the streets.
“Industrial-scale mining by big companies controlled by military families and companies, cronies and drug lords has made Hpakant a dystopian wasteland where locals are literally having the ground cut from under their feet,” said Mike Davis of Global Witness, calling for firms to be held accountable for accidents.
The group wants the jade industry, which has long been the subject of United States sanctions, to be part of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), a global scheme designed to increase transparency around natural resource management.
Reuters, Agence France-Presse