AMN /
YANGON: – At least 90 people have killed in a devstating landslide in a remote jade mining area of northern Myanmar, officials said Sunday, as search teams continued to find bodies in one of the deadliest disasters to strike the country’s shadowy jade industry.
The incident in occured in state of Kachin which produces some of the best jade in the world, but landslides are not uncommon. Most of the dead are thought to be people who tried to make a living by climbing on waste material dumped from nearby mines, searching with their hands for fragments of discarded jade. It is unclear what caused the collapse of the heap of waste material.Dozens of huts at the site were also buried by the landslide.
“We found 79 dead bodies on November 21 (and) 11 today so the total so far is 90,” said Nilar Myint, an official from the local administrative authorities in Hpakant, northern Kachin state, adding that the rescue operation was ongoing.
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