Burma: at least 113 dead in jade mine landslide

Text by: RFI Follow

The bodies of 113 miners were extracted from the mud after a landslide that occurred in jade mines in northern Burma, Kachin State Fire Services announced on Thursday July 2. The search had to be suspended due to heavy rain, local police said.

Publicity

“  The miners were swept away by a torrent of mud caused by heavy monsoon showers. So far we have found a total of 113 bodies,  ”wrote the firefighters on their official Facebook page. Photos show a team of rescuers wading through a valley submerged by the mudslide, in the canton of Hpakant, near the Chinese border.

Each year, dozens of miners in search of precious stones are killed in accidents due to perilous working conditions , particularly during the monsoon season. Fatal landslides in the region are frequent, and the victims are often from disadvantaged ethnic communities who operate almost clandestinely in old abandoned mines.

Prosperous Industry and Civil War Financing

Burmese mining is very prosperous but unregulated, employs many undeclared workers and weighs tens of billions of dollars, according to the NGO Watchdog Global Witness. The open jade mines of Hpakant transformed this remote region into a vast terrain evoking a lunar landscape.

Jade, precious wood, gold or amber, the abundant natural resources of northern Burma help finance both sides of the civil war between insurgents of the Kachin ethnic group and the Burmese military. A conflict that has lasted for several decades.

(with agencies)

► Read also: The deaths of Burmese miners reveal the opacity of the jade sector

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