YANGON: A jade mine slag heap collapsed in northern Myanmar on Friday (May 4), killing at 17 people, rescue officials said, the latest in a series of disasters to hit the largely unregulated gem industry.

Myanmar is a major gemstone producer and the civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi pledged to tighten controls after a landslide in a jade mine killed more than 100 people in 2015 in Kachin state, the site of Friday's collapse.

Friday's accident happened in the early morning in the village of Wai Hka, when workers were scavenging through heaps of mining debris for discarded jade.

"I barely escaped ... The soil bulk collapsed and killed people," said miner Min Naung, 30.

Many jade mines are owned by companies linked to leaders of the previous military government, ethnic armies and Chinese firms. Workers, many of them migrants from elsewhere in Myanmar, toil long hours in dangerous conditions and for little pay.

"To safeguard people's lives and to reduce the risk of landslides, companies should follow the mining law while digging," said Chit Kaung, administrator of Wai Hka, where most of its 50,000 population work in mines.

Environmental advocacy group Global Witness put the value of jade production in Myanmar at around US$31 billion in 2014. Experts say the majority of stones are smuggled to China.

Fighting between government forces and an ethnic armed group in Kachin has displaced more than 5,000 people since early April, the United Nations says. </s> BANGKOK: A landslide of a mound of mining waste has killed at least 14 people in northern Myanmar's jade mining region.

An official in Kachin state's Hpakant township says the accident also left six people injured and an unknown number believed missing.

Hpakant, 950 kilometers (600 miles) north of Myanmar's biggest city, Yangon, is the epicenter of the world's biggest and most lucrative jade mining industry.

Jade is normally mined by heavy equipment that generates huge mounds of waste soil, which easily causes landslides.

People often settle near the mounds to scavenge for jade in the precariously high piles of waste.

Fatal accidents are not rare and more than 100 people were killed in a single landslide in November 2015. </s> Hanoi (VNA) - At least 12 people were killed and eight others injured due to a landslide in Hpakant mining region in Myanmar's northern Kachin state on May 4, according to a press release from the country's information ministry.

 

 The landslide occurred due to a collapse of 60.9-metre high spoil tip near a mining worksite in Hway Khar village in the region at 04:30 (local time).

 

 The injured were brought to the nearby Hpakant General Hospital for treatment.

 

 Rescue operations and investigation into the accident are being carried out by the authorities.

 

 Myanmar is the world's top producer of the near-translucent green gem in trade fueled by demand from neighbouring China. However, the loose management has led to the weak observance of regulations on labour safety and environmental protection.

 

 Earlier, on April 13, one people were killed in a landslide near a jade mine in the same village due to the collapse of spoil and stone tip from a 3.04-metre height.-VNA </s> A landslide at a jade mine in northern Myanmar has killed 17 people, local authorities said Friday, the latest disaster to hit the murky multi-billion dollar industry.

 Myanmar is the world’s top producer of the near-translucent green gem in trade fueled by demand from neighboring China.

 But the poorly regulated industry is notorious for its links to cronies from Myanmar’s former junta and for the dangers it poses to those who scrabble across a moonscape of environmental destruction hoping to strike it rich.

 The accident early Friday occurred in a mining compound near Wak Khar village in Kachin State’s Hpakant township, the epicenter of the perilous work.

 “A wall of rock fell after people tried to dig for jade under it,” local administrative officer Nilar Myint told AFP.

 “We have now found 17 dead bodies and we have sent nine survivors to hospital,” she added. A second source involved in the rescue and recovery process confirmed the death toll.

 A number of deadly landslides has struck the area around Hpakant in recent years, with one major incident in November 2015 leaving more than 100 dead. Several other smaller accidents have killed or injured scores more.—Agencies </s> BANGKOK >> A landslide of a mound of mining waste killed at least 14 people Friday morning in northern Myanmar’s jade mining region, a local official said.

The accident near the Waikha mine also left six people injured and an unknown number believed missing, based on what local villagers reported, said Tu Mai, the administrator of Seng Tawng village in Kachin state’s Hpakant township. A search for them was continuing.

Hpakant, 600 miles north of Myanmar’s biggest city, Yangon, is the epicenter of the world’s biggest and most lucrative jade mining industry. Jade is normally mined by heavy equipment that generates huge mounds of waste soil, which easily causes landslides.

The industry generated about $31 billion in 2014 with most of the wealth going to individuals and companies tied to Myanmar’s former military rulers, according to Global Witness, a London-based group that investigate misuse of revenues from natural resources.

People often settle near the mounds to scavenge for jade in the precariously high piles of waste. Fatal accidents are not rare and more than 100 people were killed in a single landslide in November 2015.

Local activists said the profitability of jade mining industry led businesses and the government to neglect enforcing already very weak regulations in the industry.

“The government’s plans to tackle the problem in the jade mining region are not practical,” said Tsa Ji, a researcher and member of a local activist organization, the Kachin Development Networking Group. “The authorities have passed the laws without really understanding how the mining companies are destroying the environment on a large scale.”

Hpakant, the heart of the jade mining region, is also enmeshed in the armed conflict between the government and the ethnic rebels of the Kachin Independence Army, in which the military has been launching offensives against local armed groups to control territory holding the jade mines.

Researchers said the civilian government led by leader Aung San Suu Kyi has done little or nothing to find a practical solution to the problems, which include environment degradation as well as safety.

“Many jade mining companies do not follow rules and regulations on where or how to dump waste pile,” said Maw Htun Awng, a mining governance researcher. “Then there are no actual mechanisms to watch if these companies are following these rules and that’s why this is part of the cumulative impacts.” </s> A landslide at a jade mine in northern Myanmar has killed 17 people, local authorities said Friday, the latest disaster to hit the murky multi-billion dollar industry.

Myanmar is the world's top producer of the near-translucent green gem in trade fueled by demand from neighbouring China.

But the poorly regulated industry is notorious for its links to cronies from Myanmar's former junta and for the dangers it poses to those who scrabble across a moonscape of environmental destruction hoping to strike it rich.

The accident early Friday occurred in a mining compound near Wak Khar village in Kachin State's Hpakant township, the epicentre of the perilous work.

"A wall of rock fell after people tried to dig for jade under it," local administrative officer Nilar Myint told AFP.

"We have now found 17 dead bodies and we have sent nine survivors to hospital," she added.

A second source involved in the rescue and recovery process confirmed the death toll.

A number of deadly landslides has struck the area around Hpakant in recent years, with one major incident in November 2015 leaving more than 100 dead.

Several other smaller accidents have killed or injured scores more.

The victims are often itinerant workers or impoverished local residents who see little profit from the industry and are left to scour the mining areas for pieces of jade left behind by giant industrial diggers.

The NGO Global Witness said the industry was worth some $31 billion in 2014 alone, with much of the funds not reaching state coffers.

Myanmar's northernmost state of Kachin is rich in resources but a source of long running conflict, which intensified in 2011 after a ceasefire between ethnic insurgents and the government broke down.

Thousands of people have fled their home in recent weeks after a renewed bout of clashes, according to the United Nations. </s> (CNN) More than 50 people are missing and feared dead after a mudslide buried workers at a jade mine in Myanmar's Kachin State, according to reports.

The state-run Myanmar News Agency reported that the slide was caused after a lake collapse in the city of Hpakant in the early hours Tuesday.

Three people have been confirmed killed and 51 are believed to be trapped by a "mud lake" created by the landslide, Myanmar news agency reported.

"Finding bodies is proving difficult. About 60 volunteers from our philanthropic association are participating in the search for bodies," said U Khin Maung, chairman of a local philanthropic organization, according to Burmese state media.

Jade is believed to be one of Myanmar's most profitable exports and worth billions of dollars, fueled in large part by demand in neighboring China. </s> NAY PYI TAW, Myanmar (AA) More than 50 people went missing after a landslide hit major jade mining area in the country’s northern Kachin state, an official said on Tuesday. The accident occurred near Maw Wun kalay village in Hpakant Township when a mud-filter pond, situated in an old mining site, collapsed last night at around 11.30 p.m. local time (1700GMT), said Kyaw Swa Aung, the township administer. As a result, a total of 54 staff from two private companies -- most of them were assigned to guard the nearby mining sites -- went missing, he said. “Three dead bodies have been recovered from the mud,” he said, adding search and rescue operation were still going on. At least 20 people have been killed this year by collapses and landslides at mining sites, according to Hpakant township office. Most of the victims were identified as internally-migrant workers who scavenge jade or pieces of the precious stones left over from company mining operations.

Hpakant area is the center of the country’s jade mining industry and produces some of the best-quality jade in the world. </s> More than 50 people were feared dead after a landslide in northern Myanmar engulfed jade miners while they were sleeping, local police said Tuesday, the latest deadly accident in a notoriously dangerous industry.

Dozens die each year in landslides caused by jade mining, a poorly regulated industry rife with corruption and sandwiched between the country's borders with China and India.

Local police described a freak accident in Kachin state on Monday night so big it created a huge "mud lake" that buried the miners as well as some 40 vehicles.

"Fifty-four people are missing in the mud," a duty officer from Hpakant township police station told AFP, asking not to be named.

"There's no way they (the missing) could have survived."

Only two bodies had been recovered so far.

The Ministry of Information confirmed the accident and number of missing, adding that the area was mined by Myanmar Thura Gems and Shwe Nagar Koe Kaung companies.

Myanmar Thura Gems director Hla Soe Oo told AFP by phone he was on his way to the site and had no further details.

Local media shared images, unverified by AFP, that showed the walls of a mine stretching vertically a couple of hundred meters above a vast pool of mud, revealing only the tops of two yellow excavation vehicles.

Hundreds of onlookers gathered nearby, staring at the site and taking photos with their phones.

The open jade mines in Kachin's Hpakant township have turned the remote area into a vast moonscape-like terrain.

Fatal landslides in the area are common with victims often from impoverished ethnic communities looking for scraps left behind by big firms.

A major collapse in November 2015 left more than 100 dead.

In July last year, the bodies of 23 landslide victims were recovered after a dayslong search hampered by heavy monsoon rains.

The jade industry is largely driven by insatiable demand from neighboring China, where the translucent green gemstone has long been prized.

Watchdog Global Witness estimated that the industry was worth some $31 billion in 2014, although very little reaches state coffers.

Northern Myanmar's abundant natural resources -- including jade, timber, gold and amber -- help finance both sides of a decadeslong civil war between ethnic Kachin insurgents and the military.

The fight to control the mines and the revenues they bring frequently traps local civilians in the middle.

A 17-year cease-fire broke down in 2011, and since then more than 100,000 people have been displaced by fighting -- some of them multiple times.

On coming to power in 2016, civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi promised to make the peace process with the country's myriad armed groups her top priority -- a pledge that has yet to yield significant results.
A heap of mining waste collapses at a jade mine in Kachin State, Myanmar, causing a landslide that kills at least 17 people. Six people are also left injured and an unknown number of people are missing.