The miners were collecting stones in Hpakant - the centre of Myanmar’s secretive billion-dollar jade industry - when the wave crashed onto them, entombing them under a layer of mud. He said the 77 buried on Friday had been identified and 39 would be interred on Saturday. Volunteers carried plywood coffins and placed them into a mass grave carved out by diggers close to the mine site. Myanmar supplies 90% of the world’s jade, the vast majority of which is exported to neighbouring China, which borders Kachin state. Deadly landslides and other accidents are common in the mines, which draw impoverished workers from across Myanmar.

Source: bd News24 July 04, 2020 08:03 UTC