Hanoi (VNA) - A landslide occurringdue to the collapse of pit wall of a disused jade mining site on July 14 killedat least 15 people and injured at least 45 others in Hpakant region, Kachinstate, northern Myanmar.
Local authorities said the search in thearea was called off for the day after 15 bodies were pulled from the mud and 45injured people were taken to a nearby hospital. The work would be resumed onJuly 15.
Han Thar, secretary for the ruling NationalLeague for Democracy party in Hpakant, said more people may still be buried in therubble. He said there might have been about 100 people were mining for preciousstones when the accident occurred, adding that authorities had appealed to peoplein the area to report anyone still missing
Local authorities said the affected minerswere not working for a company, and that they are investigating the cause ofthe mishap.
Informal jade scavengers, or hand-pickers,are frequently caught up in landslides in the poorly regulated mining area. InMay, at least 14 miners were killed in a similar collapse in the same area, and more than 100 peoplewere killed in a landslide in Hpakant in 2015.-VNA
VNA