Three more bodies were recovered and dozens more were still missing on Thursday, a day after a landslide near the jade-mining town of Hpakant in Kachin State, according to rescue workers and local sources.
Between 80 and 100 people are feared missing after the pre-dawn landslide at an old mine near the village of Tharyargone on Wednesday.
The body of one man estimated to be in his 30s was recovered later that day, and three more were found on Thursday, according to Min Naing, the chair of the Thingaha social welfare group, one of several groups involved in the search effort.
He added that at least seven social welfare groups are taking part in the search for bodies along with volunteers from the Red Cross Society and members of Hpakant’s fire department.
“We will continue searching for more bodies tomorrow,” he told Myanmar Now on Thursday afternoon.
The landslide involved the collapse of a large pile of mine waste. Some locals suggested that it occurred because of erosion caused by a lake at the base of the pile.
Most of the victims are believed to have been jade pickers—individuals who scour waste from Hpakant’s mines in search of pieces of jade missed during excavation.
The landslide also buried a number of small shops located near the 90-meter-wide waste pile. Two female vendors were said to be among those missing, but their bodies have not yet been recovered, said rescue workers.
Part of the rescue effort is now focused on recovering bodies from the lake, where a number of the victims are believed to have been buried.
According to one rescue worker who identified himself simply as Jack, some people who were pushed into the lake by the landslide managed to swim to the surface.
“Many people were buried when the incident happened, but some who ended up in the lake were able to make it to shore or onto rafts,” he said.
The landslide on Wednesday came just three days after a similar incident in the village of Hseng Ja Bum, also in Hpakant Township, reportedly left five people dead.
A 2019 report by the New York-based Natural Resource Governance Institute said that there were 245 reported deaths caused by landslides in Hpakant between January 2015 and July 2018. The actual number is likely much higher, it added.
