162 killed in landslide at Myanmar jade mine
   Date :03-Jul-2020

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HPAKANT ;
 
AT LEAST 162 people were killed on Thursday in a landslide at a jade mine in northern Myanmar, the worst in a series of deadly accidents at such sites in recent years that critics blame on the Government’s failure to take action against unsafe conditions. The Myanmar Fire Service Department, which coordinates rescues and other emergency services, announced about 12 hours after the morning disaster that 162 bodies were recovered from the landslide in Hpakant.
 
At the site of the tragedy, a crowd gathered in the rain around corpses shrouded in blue and red plastic sheets placed in a row on the ground. Emergency workers had to slog through heavy mud to retrieve bodies by wrapping them in the plastic sheets, which were then hung on crossed wooden poles shouldered by the recovery teams. The most detailed estimate of Myanmar’s jade industry said it generated about $31 billion in 2014. “The jade miners were smothered by a wave of mud,” the Fire Service said.
 
An unknown number of people are feared missing. Recovery operations were suspended after dark. The London-based environmental watchdog Global Witness said the accident “is a damning indictment of the Government’s failure to curb reckless and irresponsible mining practices in jade mines.” “The Government should immediately suspend large-scale, illegal and dangerous mining in Hpakant and ensure companies that engage in these practices are no longer able to operate,” it said in a statement.