Nine killed in Kachin jade mine landslide
A landslide in northern Myanmar’s jade mining region has killed 9 people, a local official said on February 11, the latest fatal incident to strike the shadowy billion-dollar industry. The men were believed to be searching for jade in Kachin State when a wall of unstable earth collapsed late night of February 9. Five bodies were found buried beneath the rubble on February 9 and three more were found on February 10, said Kyaw Swar Aung, the administrator of Hpakant – the heart of Myanmar’s jade-producing region. Rescuers also found two injured men, but one was pronounced dead at the hospital, he added. “The total number of dead bodies found was nine. Their funerals are today,” he told AFP. Myanmar is the chief source of the world’s finest jadeite, a near-translucent green stone that is highly prized in China. But the secretive trade is poorly regulated and enormously dangerous.
