Search mission ended in Myanmar jade mining accident

By Kyaw Ye Lynn</p> <p>YANGON, Myanmar (AA) – Myanmar authority has called the search and rescue mission off for scores of people who went missing after a landslide hit a major jade mining area in the country’s north, officials said on Friday.</p> <p>A total of 54 staff from two private companies — most of them were assigned to guard the nearby mining sites — went missing late Monday when a mud-filter pond in an old mining site collapsed in Hpakant, the northern state of Kachin.</p> <p>Kyaw Swa Aung, the Hpakant township director, said authorities and volunteers halted the search for the bodies on Friday after two people — who joined the rescue team — were killed after buried in the small scale fresh mudslide on Wednesday.</p> <p>“Only four dead bodies were recovered from the mud as of Thursday,” he told Anadolu Agency by phone.</p> <p>“As there are possible landslides and mudslides, search for the bodies became risky,” he said.</p> <p>The official also said that hope for the remaining 50 people, who went missing since late Monday, were fading.</p> <p>“As they were buried under the mud, the chance is very very low,” Aung added.</p> <p>Lower House lawmaker Tint Soe, representing Hpakant, confirmed on Friday that search and rescue mission was called off.</p> <p>“I have not seen anyone searching for the bodies today,” he said over phone.</p> <p>Soe added that most of the dead bodies are not usually pulled out of the wreckage as the debris or mud buried all living and non-living things whenever an accident happens.</p> <p>“The companies provide cash compensations to the family members. Then things are done. That’s what happens here,” he complained.</p> <p>At least 20 people have been killed this year by collapses and landslides at mining sites, according to Hpakant township office.</p> <p>Most of the victims were identified as internal migrant workers who scavenge jade or pieces of the precious stones left over from the mining operations of companies.</p> <p>Hpakant is the center of the Myanmar’s jade mining industry and produces some of the best quality jade in the world.