A Myanmar jade mine collapses – On July 2 there were reports from a Thai-Myanmar border in Mae Sot District, Tak Province, at 11:00 am of a landslide that had collapsed. The mine was in a basin in the middle of the valley where a large tsunami had hit. The battered bodies of more than 160 jade miners were pulled from a sea of mud after a landslide in northern Myanmar on Thursday after one of the worst-ever accidents to hit the treacherous industry.
Many low paid miners die each year while working in the country’s lucrative but poorly regulated jade trade.
The disaster struck after heavy rainfall pounded the open-cast mines, close to the Chinese border in Kachin state, where billions of dollars of jade is believed to be mined each year from bare hillsides.
A slice of the mountain collapsed, causing a landslide of mud into a once aquamarine-colored lake into a brown blood bath of mine wastewater as workers tried to escape uphill.
Many people were floating in the water, said, witnesses, and
dozens “were covered by a wave of mud”, the Myanmar Fire Services Department said in a Facebook post.
Rescue workers, including the fire department and local police, worked throughout the day while pulling bodies out of a muddy lake under continuous heavy monsoon rain.
“By 7:15 pm, 162 bodies were found,” said the department, adding that 54 people who were injured and sent to nearby hospitals, there were still some missing as the search continued.
The bodies of miners were laid out in rows under tarpaulins, as relatives and friends showed signs of dolefulness.,
The rescuers worked quickly due to the fear another section of the mine could collapse as the heavy rain continued to challenge them.
Rescuers believed there were more bodies buried underwater so they just recovered the dead bodies that were afloat into the nightfall.
As miners continued scavenging for gemstones on the mountainous terrain in Hpakant township, the victims had ignored earlier warnings by local authorities not to work the mines during the monsoon rains.
UPDATED: 162 Dead (19) have been found and 54 injured (15) people were sent to the Phrakant hospital and the Waqar hospital.
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23 injuries (23) were sent to Fakant hospital and whichever hospital during landfall.
The search continues.
Workers will continue to risk their lives daily in the hope of hitting the jackpot — A good quality jadeite that could fetch tens of thousands of dollars, changing their lives.
