YANGON, April 24, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Recovery teams in Myanmar fought against
a huge lake of sludge on Wednesday in their search for bodies after a
landslide engulfed more than 50 jade miners — the latest fatal accident in a
notoriously dangerous but highly-lucrative industry.
Dozens die each year in landslides caused by jade mining, a poorly
regulated industry rife with corruption.
The disaster struck the mine in Hpakant township in northern Kachin state
late on Monday night.
Police initially described how a “mud lake” buried 54 miners — all feared
dead — while there were sleeping, although Wednesday said the men had been
working a night shift at the time.
By nightfall on Tuesday, only three bodies had been recovered, a police
officer from Hpakant Township, who asked not to be named, told AFP.
“Searching in the mud is difficult — it’s not like soil,” he added.
The site is mined by Myanmar Thura Gems and Shwe Nagar Koe Kaung companies.
Myanmar Thura Gems director Hla Soe Oo told AFP by phone that the company
was “helping the families identify the victims’ bodies”.
The open jade mines in Hpakant township have turned the landscape into a
vast moonscape-like terrain of barren hills and vast valleys of dirt scoured
by companies for the precious gems.
Impoverished ethnic communities often scavenge the terrain for scraps left
behind by big firms — and are frequently the main victims of landslides.
But police told AFP that there were “no informal workers” on the site at
the time of this mudslide.
A major collapse in November 2015 left more than 100 dead, while in July of
last year, the bodies of 23 victims were recovered after a search hampered by
heavy monsoon rains.
The jade industry is largely driven by insatiable demand from neighbouring
China, where the translucent green gemstone has long been prized.
Watchdog Global Witness estimated the industry was worth some $31 billion
in 2014, although very little reaches state coffers.
Northern Myanmar’s abundant natural resources — including jade, timber,
gold and amber — help finance both sides of a decades-long civil war between
ethnic Kachin insurgents and the military.
The administration of former US President Barack Obama lifted jadeite and
rubies sanctions in 2016, despite concerns from watchdog groups of the abuses
plaguing the industry and its ties to former junta stalwarts.