YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – A landslide at a jade mine left at least 50 dead in northern Myanmar on Thursday, the central government said, although a local lawmaker said the death toll was nearly double.
The Ministry of Information quoted the local fire service, which traveled to the scene of the incident, Hpakant, in Kachin state.
The area is 950 kilometers (600 miles) north of the country’s largest city, Yangon, and is the center of the world’s largest and most lucrative jade mining industry.
A Hpakant legislator, Khin Maung Myint, said he was told by local rescue services that 99 bodies had been recovered and that 54 wounded were taken to three hospitals.
The 7Day News Journal website previously reported that 200 people were missing.
No further details of the incident were known at the moment.
Accidents on mining operations with multiple deaths are not unusual in the country.
The fatalities are usually self-employed miners who settle next to huge piles of earth removed by heavy machinery. Jade miners often work and live at the base of these mounds, which become especially unstable during the rainy season.
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