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The death toll from a mudslide at a former jade mine in northern Myanmar has risen to 32 as of Wednesday evening, residents and rescue workers told Radio Free Asia.
Monday’s mudslide in Hpakant township, in Kachin state, swept over a village in an area where residents say illegal mining has surged since the military seized power in a 2021 coup, leading to frequent and deadly natural disasters.
The initial death toll was 12, with dozens missing.
Myanmar’s resource-rich Kachin state has been the battleground for much of the country’s heated clashes between the insurgent Kachin Independence Army and junta soldiers.
In between fights over lucrative jade and rare earth mining, residents have also seen some of the highest death tolls from landslides across the region.
“Ten more bodies were recovered this evening,” a rescue worker told Radio Free Asia about the disaster that occurred early Monday morning, declining to be named for security reasons. “Several people are still missing, and the search and rescue operation is continuing around the clock.”
The bodies of dozens of victims aged 2 to 89 years old have been found during the search, including one person found alive who later died in the hospital, the rescue worker said.
Hpakant residents told RFA that rain causes mud to build up in the mine’s old pits, when pressure forces it to flow downhill, burying an estimated 57 houses in Sa Paut village.
According to data compiled by RFA, approximately 600 people have died in ten landslides in Hpakant township between 2018 and 2024.
RFA attempted to contact Kachin state’s military spokesperson, Moe Min Thein on Monday following the mudslide, but he did not respond by the time of publication.
Translated by Kalyar Win. Edited by Kiana Duncan and Malcolm Foster.