Friday’s accident happened in the early morning in the village of Wai Hka, when workers were scavenging through heaps of mining debris for discarded jade. Many jade mines are owned by companies linked to leaders of the previous military government, ethnic armies and Chinese firms. Workers, many of them migrants from elsewhere in Myanmar, toil long hours in dangerous conditions and for little pay. Environmental advocacy group Global Witness put the value of jade production in Myanmar at around $31 billion in 2014. Fighting between government forces and an ethnic armed group in Kachin has displaced more than 5,000 people since early April, the United Nations says.

Source: bd News24 May 04, 2018 07:30 UTC