MANDALAY, Myanmar – A sinister rumble was the only warning the young jade miner had that something was wrong.
Within seconds he was running, but before he could take a few steps he was swept away by a great wave of mud and water. Falling under the water, he managed to reach the surface, swimming for half an hour before finding land.
“I thought he was going to die,” the miner, Ko Aung Kyaw Htay, 23, said Friday, a day after the Wai Khar mine disaster in northern Myanmar, which left approximately 200 dead. “I still can’t believe I escaped. I have no idea what happened to the other people working around me. I guess they all died.
Mr. Aung was one of hundreds of unauthorized jade collectors digging around the edges of the Wai Khar open pit mine in Kachin State, the lucrative center of Myanmar’s jade trade where rebels and government forces when the disaster occurred. Heavy rains from the annual monsoon had filled the giant mine with water, creating a lake. Just after dawn on Thursday, a mine wall collapsed, crashing into the lake and generating a wave more than 20 feet high.
He survived with only scratches. But he saw no sign of 50 other miners working nearby when the wave hit.
By Friday afternoon, the search engines had recovered 172 bodies floating in the lake or landed at the mine in the municipality of Hpakant. Another 54 were injured.
Similar disasters are an almost annual occurrence in the jade fields of Myanmar, which produce about 70 percent of the world’s jade and generate billions of dollars a year. Most of the jade mined there is exported to China via the border.
The jade industry, largely controlled by the military and its sidekick companies, operates almost secretly. The army is in constant conflict with rebel groups in the region, including the Kachin Independence Army, which seeks self-government and is said to draw its own income from mining operations.
Jade collectors say the rebel group is evaluating the fees for letting them operate outside of government-authorized mining operations.
Around 300,000 miners come from all over the country to look for jade, approximately two thirds of them work illegally, even though it is extremely dangerous.
Small landslides, which go unnoticed in the outside world, kill 100 or more miners a year. Major mine collapses, such as the Wai Khar disaster, occur almost annually.
“In reality, people die from accidents here almost every day,” said U Tin Soe, who represents the region in Parliament. “We just don’t have a record of it.”
The Wai Khar mine, legally operated by a consortium of five companies, officially closed on Tuesday for the rainy season due to the danger of landslides. It will reopen in October.
But the jade collectors, who often work for local chiefs and must pay a portion of their profits to rebel groups operating in the area, immediately moved to the mine this week despite the risk.
Mr. Tin said the nature of the region and the despair of the miners make it difficult to prevent frequent disasters.
“There is no rule of law in this area,” he said. “All miners must take responsibility for the continuous landslides in Hpakant. It happens because of your greed. No one can stop him. “
Moe Thandar and her younger brother, Moe Myint, arrived in Hpakant two years ago from the city of Thandwe in Rakhine State to work as unauthorized jade collectors.
Mr. Moe Myint, 20, started work early Thursday at the Wai Khar mine. His 28-year-old sister found out about the landslide around 8 a.m. and ran there.
He found his brother lying on the ground in a row of corpses.
“That moment was like the end of my world seeing my little brother lying there,” he said. “I feel like someone took my life, too.”
She said she was concerned that her old parents would be outgrowed by pain upon hearing the news.
“We just wanted to have enough money to survive,” she said, crying. “But our lives are gone.”
Myanmar, also known as Burma, was controlled for decades by the army, which still maintains great authority and operates autonomously under the 2008 Constitution it enacted.
The army owns two large conglomerates, which have extensive operations in a wide range of businesses, including jade.
A study by anti-corruption group Global Witness found that Myanmar’s jade business was worth up to $ 31 billion in 2014, nearly half of the country’s gross domestic product.
“The government has turned a blind eye to continued rapacious and illicit mining practices in Hpakant despite promising to reform the dangerous sector,” said Paul Donowitz, campaign leader for Global Witness. “This was a completely preventable tragedy that should serve as an urgent wake-up call for the government.”
Mr. Aung, the Wai Khar disaster survivor, moved to the region three years ago from the city of Magway, in central Myanmar.
Until a few months ago, he worked independently as a jade collector and said he had to pay a portion of his earnings directly to the Kachin Independence Army. His biggest find was a piece of jade that he sold for $ 2,200. He said he paid almost $ 600 to the rebels.
“The KIA people are everywhere and they can smell who is selling the jade and who has the good quality jade,” he said, referring to the rebel group. “If you don’t pay, you will be shot and die anonymously.”
Mr. Aung said that he recently decided to work for a local mining chief because he was no longer able to do it alone after the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Myanmar has not been greatly affected by the virus, at least according to official data, with only 304 reported cases and six deaths in a population of 54 million.
But the pandemic has largely closed the global jade market, especially in China, and Aung said he couldn’t survive without buyers.
The boss, who operates outside the law like his collectors, usually pays for food and a place to stay and keeps half of what he finds.
Despite Mr. Aung’s close escape and scratches on his arms, legs, and face, he has no intention of resigning.
“There is no other job for me,” he said. “It is better to die than to live with nothing to eat. I know this job is very dangerous, but living with hunger is just as dangerous. ”
And unlike other jobs, if your luck stays in the jade mines, you hope that one day you will get rich.
“If I find a piece of jade of good quality and high price,” he said, “my dream is to buy a house in my hometown and marry a beautiful girl.”
Saw Nang reported from Mandalay, Myanmar, and Richard C. Paddock from Bangkok.
