Death toll keep rising - At least 36 now feared dead after landslide at Myanmar jade mine

Miners, rescuers and local residents look at the jade mine site where a landslide accident took place in Hpakant township, Kachin state, Myanmar Sunday. A landslide at the jade mine left scores of people missing, and a search and rescue operation was underway on Monday (Aug 14, 2023), a rescue official said. - AP

YANGON (Reuters): At least 36 people were feared dead at a jade mine in northern Myanmar after being swept into a lake by a huge landslide, a rescue worker and local journalist said on Monday.

The accident happened Sunday in the remote town of Hpakant, the centre of Myanmar's secretive jade industry, where scavengers risk their lives picking through unstable earth and rubble excavated by mining companies, searching for small pieces of the semi-precious stone.