YANGON — A landslide at a jade mine in northern Myanmar killed at least 90 people with dozens more still missing and believed dead, media reports said Sunday.
The state-owned Global New Light of Myanmar said the landslide occurred at Hpakant township in the Kachin State at 4am Saturday when the jade mine workers were asleep.
At least 200 huts were buried under a mountain of debris.
Although state media said only 30 died in the incident, the pivately-owned 7Day Daily on Sunday put the deathtoll at 90 and mounting, citing local authorities and rescue workers at the scene.
The Kachin State in northern Myanmar is famous for its jade, which last year earned the country an estimated 31 billion dollars in exports, mostly to neighboring China, according to a recent investigative report by Global Witness, a non-governmental organization.
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Much of the earnings from jade exports goes to the country’s ruling elite, said Global Witness.