Fifth Hpakant landslide in one-month span kills three

Fifth Hpakant landslide in one-month span kills three



YANGON: -- Three people were killed in the latest landslide at the jade mines of Kachin State's Hpakant Township on Tuesday night, the fifth in the span of a month, The Irrawaddy reported.

The landslide occurred at about 10pm on Tuesday, when local “hand-pickers” scavenging in the dark for the precious stone were at work at a mining waste dump site near Seik Mu village.

Tuesday’s landslide was triggered as a dump truck was depositing mining waste at the site of the disaster. The soil dump collapse took place near the location of a devastating landslide in November, when at least 114 small-scale miners were killed. Since that disaster, three less deadly landslides have occurred over the last month, the latest on Jan 7.

The jade prospectors, whose scavenging in Hpakant is technically illegal, were warned off further hand-picking in the area by authorities in the aftermath of the November tragedy.

On Wednesday morning, local relief activists were headed to the scene of the latest landslide, but said they were not optimistic about prospects for carrying out an extensive search for additional victims, as the instability of the terrain made digging risky.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/fifth-hpakant-landslide-in-one-month-span-kills-three


-- Thai PBS 2016-01-14