(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> A lawmaker representing a gemstone-rich area in northern Myanmar says more than 50 people are believed to have died in a mudslide at a jade mining site.

Tin Soe said Tuesday that three bodies have been recovered and 54 people are missing. He said it would be difficult to recover the bodies from under the mud.

The accident occurred Monday in the Hpakant area of Kachin state. Such accidents are not rare and usually occur when mountainous piles of mining scraps slide down on people scavenging pieces of jade.

Tin Soe said in this case the victims worked for two mining companies, indicating they were formally employed rather than scavengers. </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> YANGON
• Recovery teams in Myanmar fought against a huge lake of sludge yesterday in their search for bodies after a mudslide engulfed more than 50 jade miners - the latest fatal accident in a notoriously dangerous but highly lucrative industry.

Dozens die each year in landslides caused by jade mining, a poorly regulated industry rife with corruption.

The latest disaster struck the jade mine in Hpakant township in northern Kachin state late on Monday night.

Police initially described how a "mud lake" buried 54 miners - all feared dead - while they were sleeping, although they said yesterday that the men had been working a night shift at the time.

By nightfall on Tuesday, only three bodies had been recovered, a police officer from Hpakant township, who asked not to be named, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"Searching in the mud is difficult - it's not like soil," he added.

The site is mined by two companies: Myanmar Thura Gems and Shwe Nagar Koe Kaung.

Myanmar Thura Gems director Hla Soe Oo told AFP by phone that the company was "helping the families identify the victims' bodies".

The open jade mines in Hpakant township have turned the landscape into a vast moonscape-like terrain of barren hills and vast valleys of dirt scoured by companies for the precious gems.

Impoverished ethnic communities often scavenge the terrain for scraps left behind by the big firms - and are frequently the main victims of landslides.

But police said there were "no informal workers" on the site at the time of this mudslide.

Dozens were swept away by a landslide in Hpakant last year and at least 120 were buried in 2015 after the collapse of a mound of tailings, a mud-like waste by-product of mining.

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

Watchdog Global Witness estimated the industry was worth some US$31 billion (S$42.2 billion) in 2014, although very little reaches the state coffers.

Meanwhile in South Africa, 51 people were killed in the southern and eastern parts after heavy rain caused flooding and mudslides.

Rescue workers were digging through collapsed homes and other buildings in the coastal areas of KwaZulu-Natal province for survivors, local officials said yesterday.

The region has been hit by heavy rain for days, but the authorities did not anticipate the extent of the downpour late on Monday, said Mr Lennox Mabaso, a spokesman for the provincial Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs department. </s> Naypyitaw, Myanmar -- More than 50 people are believed to have died in a mudslide at a jade mining site in northern Myanmar, a lawmaker representing the area said Tuesday.

Tin Soe said three bodies have been recovered and 54 people remain missing after the accident Monday night in the Hpakant area of Kachin state.

"The rescue process will not be easy as they're under the mud, not just ordinary soil. It is really difficult to get the bodies back," he said.

The mud flowed down on the workers from a collapsed reservoir made from a disused mining pit to contain materials discarded from the mining process.

The landscape in the area is extremely uneven, with mountains of debris and valleys formed from abandoned mines.

The mud covered not only the workers but also mining equipment, including bulldozers and backhoes, from the Myanmar Thuya Co. and 9 Dragons Co.

Tin Soe said the missing were buried under mud up to 100 feet deep.

"There is no machine to pump out the mud," he said by phone. "It could cost millions of dollars."

Local officials did not answer phone calls seeking comment on the accident. Myanmar's Information Ministry said on its Facebook page that rescue operations have been carried out since Tuesday morning by local authorities together with social welfare organizations.

A similar accident involving the release of a massive amount of mud occurred in March, damaging some equipment but causing no deaths.

Accidents involving heavy casualties in the jade mining area are not rare, but usually have a different cause.

They usually occur at the foot of giant mounds of discarded earth that has been mined in bulk by heavy machinery, with scavengers searching for scraps of jade at their base. The scavengers are usually itinerant workers from other areas who are not registered with local authorities, so the identities of victims, and even the death toll, often remain unknown.

Scavenging for jade remnants is dangerous and not well regulated. More than 100 people were killed in a single landslide in November 2015.

Hpakant, 600 miles north of Myanmar's biggest city, Yangon, is the center of the world's biggest and most lucrative jade mining industry.

According to Global Witness, a London-based group that investigates misuse of revenues from natural resources, 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.

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

The region is also enmeshed in an armed conflict between the government and ethnic rebels from the Kachin Independence Army.

"Many jade mining companies do not follow rules and regulations on where or how to dump waste piles," Maw Htun Awng, a mining governance researcher, said after an accident last year that killed at least 15. "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 impact." </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> 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> 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> 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 mudslide at a jade mine in Hpakant, Kachin State, northern Myanmar caused by the collapse of a nearby lake kills three miners and leaves 51 missing.