Landslide Again at Jade Mine in Northern Myanmar... "1 Miner Dead, Over 70 Missing"

Over 150 Rescue Workers Deployed for Search Operation
Last Year, Over 170 People Died in the Same Area

Authorities are rescuing miners at the site of a landslide at a jade mine in Myanmar last July, where at least 162 miners died. Photo by EPA Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] A landslide occurred at a jade mine in northern Myanmar, resulting in one death and at least 70 people missing.

According to foreign media including the AP News on the 22nd (local time), a landslide occurred at a jade mine in the Hpakant area of Kachin State in northern Myanmar at 4 a.m. that day.

The local civic group Kachin Network Development Foundation stated that about 80 workers at the mine were swept into a nearby lake by the landslide. A representative of the organization added that rescue workers arrived around 7 a.m. and began search operations.

The AP News, citing a rescue team official, reported that 150 rescue workers and firefighters are searching the accident area and have so far found the body of one miner.

Myanmar is the world's largest jade producer, and its jade mines have greatly developed due to export demand centered on China.

However, jade mines have been plagued by human rights violations due to poor working conditions and inadequate safety measures, and large-scale casualties continue to occur.

The Hpakant area where the accident occurred also experienced a landslide last week, killing six jade mine workers, according to local media Mizzima News.

On July 2 last year, heavy rains caused a landslide that killed about 170 people and left dozens missing in a major disaster. In 2019, a landslide in this area buried sleeping miners under mud, killing more than 50 people.

According to a report by the international resource development watchdog group Global Witness, Myanmar's jade production in 2014 was about $31 billion, accounting for half of Myanmar's GDP that year.

The AP News reported that although the military, which seized power in a coup on February 1 this year, banned jade mining in Hpakant, illegal mining continues as the main source of income for the armed group Kachin Independence Army (KIA) comes from jade mines.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.