Death toll exceeds 160 in collapse of Myanmar’s jade mine

(Reuters) – The death toll from a landslide at a jade mine in northern Myanmar has risen above 160, with more feared dead, authorities said on Friday, as search efforts continued for a second day. .

A pile of mining waste collapsed into a lake on Thursday and buried many workers under the mud and water.

As of late Thursday afternoon, rescuers had recovered 162 bodies, the fire department said.

But Thar Lin Maung, a local information ministry official, said on Friday that the death toll was 161, with 43 hospitalized. The search was ongoing, he said.

Half of the victims have yet to be identified, he said, adding that many were immigrants who lived in a small tent next to the mine.

A ceremony will be held on Friday to give financial aid to the families of the victims, he said. The regional government, the industry body, the Myanmar Gem and Jewelery Entrepreneurs Association, and a mining company donated around $ 80,000.

Miners were collecting stones in the japa-rich Hpakant area of ​​Kachin state, the center of Myanmar’s secret jade industry, when the “muddy wave” hit them after heavy rains, the department of firefighters in a Facebook post.

Deadly landslides and other accidents are common in the poorly regulated mines of Hpakant, which attract impoverished workers from across Myanmar in search of gems for export to China. But Thursday’s accident was the worst in more than five years.

Nearly 100 people died in a 2015 crash that strengthened calls to regulate the industry. Another 50 died in 2019.