The landslide occurred in the Hpakant area in the state of Kachin in the north of the country.
“Around 70 to 100 people are missing after a landslide that took place around 4 o’clock,” says Ko Nyi from the rescue crews to the news agency AFP.
– We have sent 25 injured people to hospital, while we have found one dead, he continues. According to him, around 200 people participate in the search, and some use boats to search for the dead in a nearby lake.
Another official says that it is feared that around 80 people were pushed into a sea of mining waste.
Myanmar is the world’s largest extractor of the green jade stone, which is used for jewelery, among other things. The many jade mines in the country have been affected by a number of accidents in recent years. The security measures are miserable, and working immigrants work for lice wages.
Last year, large amounts of precipitation triggered a large landslide in the same area. Nearly 300 miners were buried under the masses.
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