Landslide at Burma jade mine kills 100 villagers

A landslide near a jade mine in northern Burma killed 100 people on Saturday, most of them villagers digging for scraps in a mountain of displaced earth. Many more people are missing.

The collapse was in the Kachin state community of Hpakant, said Brang Seng, a jade businessman, who watched as bodies were pulled from the debris and taken to a hospital morgue.

“People were crying,” he said. Boulders and earth ripped down the slopes. “I’m hearing that more than 100 people died. In some cases, entire families were lost.” Lamai Gum Ja, a community leader, said homes at the base of the mine-waste dump were also flattened.