Landslide kills at least 30 miners in Myanmar

By Joshua Carroll

YANGON, Myanmar

Rescuers have retrieved the bodies of around 30 miners from the site of a huge landslide in Myanmar's north, although many more are thought to be buried under the soil.

The Global New Light of Myanmar reported the head of Kachin State Public Relations and Information Department as saying Saturday that the incident happened when a 200 foot (61-meter) mountain of dump soil from a jade mine collapsed onto miners and houses below around 3 a.m. Friday (0830GMT Thursday).

“The information we got from local authorities as of 2 p.m. is that 18 bodies have been recovered and one victim rushed to hospital,” said U Htein Lin Aung.

Around 70 huts in which miners were sleeping were reported to have been buried, most of them housing migrant small-scale miners searching for jade in piles of waste soil on the mountainside.

A local resident told the paper that the death toll may reach more than 100.

“Just five huts escaped,” he said.

Members of local military groups are reported to have joined residents and search parties in the search for survivors.