A collapse at a jade mine has left up to 100 people missing

[ASEAN NOW Content Team]

 

A collapse at a jade mine in Myanmar may have killed as many as 100 people.

The majority of the victims are believed to be illegal miners, and rescue teams are anxiously searching for them in a nearby lake.
One person has been identified as deceased.

At 04:00 on Wednesday, a landslide occurred in the Hpakant area of northern Kachin state (21:30 GMT Tuesday).

Myanmar, often known as Burma, is the world's largest producer of jade, but the country's mines have been plagued by mishaps.

An overflow of rubble thrown from vehicles to the open-pit mines is thought to have caused the avalanche.

The rubble generates enormous slopes that might be dangerous in an area devoid of trees, requiring persons searching for semi-precious stone shards to work in unsafe conditions.

 

Around 200 individuals from Hpakant and the adjoining village of Lone Khin participated in the search and recovery efforts at the site.
In a neighbouring lake, boats were utilised to look for the missing.

"We've sent 25 injured individuals to the hospital and found one dead," said Ko Nyi, a member of the rescue squad, noting that up to 100 people could be missing.

 

Although jade mining is prohibited in Hpakant, residents frequently disobey the law because to a lack of economic prospects and poor living circumstances exacerbated by the Covid-19 outbreak.

Since the military coup in February, operations have exploded in the area, with landmines aplenty.

At least ten inexperienced miners went missing in another landslide at a jade block in Hpakant a few days earlier.

In 2020, one of the greatest tragedies in Hpakant claimed the lives of over 160 people, the majority of whom were migrants, when mining debris collapsed into a lake.

 

In 2018, a new gemstone mining law was enacted, however critics claim that the government has too few inspectors with inadequate capacity to curb illicit actions.

The military, drug dealers, insurgency groups, and Chinese corporate interests have all been accused of controlling the jade trade and impeding a safer and more sustainable mining of the rare gemstone, according to campaigners.

The jade trade in Myanmar is estimated to be worth more than $30 billion (£24 billion) every year, with Hpakant hosting the world's largest jade mine.