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Article

28 Apr 2019

Author:
Elizabeth Janmar,Ye Kaung Myint Maung, & Richard Finney, Radio Free Asia

Myanmar: 54 jade miners feared dead in landslide; locals blame disaster on companies' disregard of laws

"54 Jade Miners Feared Dead in Landslide in Myanmar's Hpakant", 24 April 2019

Fifty-four miners in the Hpakant jade mining region in Myanmar’s Kachin state are missing following a late-night mudslide... now feared dead....

The miners, who were employed by three separate mining companies and were working a night shift, were buried along with their equipment when a lake of cast-off earth and water collapsed, triggering the slide....

...Final numbers of those killed in the disaster have not yet been released, though a statement by the Myanmar Fire Brigade following the collapse said that in addition to the 54 men listed as missing, two others were injured in the collapse.

The bodies of two of the missing have now been recovered, the Fire Brigade said.

...[L]ocal residents and a member of parliament for the Hpakant region said that high death tolls from frequent accidents at the mines are caused by mining companies’ disregard of existing rules laid down by the authorities.

...A string of mine-waste landslides that have killed hundreds in Hpakant in recent years in have prompted calls for reform.