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Rescuers Unable To Find Missing Miners After Hpakant Landslide

Rescue workers have recovered only one body from the landslide in Hpakant Township with many more feared to have perished in the disaster in Kachin State.

“We still do not know the exact number of missing people. The administration has not made a list yet,” said a local, adding that at least 40 families are waiting to see if anyone else is found while at least 25 people have been taken to hospital with injuries.

According to eyewitnesses, at least 80 scavengers who work on a mining block that’s operated by Sein Sein are believed to be dead after a 100-foot-high hill collapsed on them at around 4am on 22 December, in Mawsizar village.

Hundreds of rescue workers were assembled to search for the missing with some using boats to search for the dead in a lake near the site of the accident.

Another landslide occurred in Hseng Ja Bum village, in Seik Mu village tract, on 19 December, where only three bodies of five missing people were recovered.

Last year, more than 160 people were killed when the side of a hill collapsed into a pit, triggering a huge wave of water that swept them away. In 2019, 54 people died when the banks of a lake overflowed.

According to a 2014 report by Global Witness, jade mining in Burma generates about $31 billion annually, which is almost half of the country’s GDP. The report found much of the revenue goes to the military and affiliated companies.

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