Prayer: Huge Landslide in Myanmar over Weekend Claims at Least 100 Lives

News Staff : Nov 23, 2015
CBN News

"In some cases, entire families were lost."

(Myanmar)—[CBN News] A landslide in northern Myanmar kills at least 100 people Saturday evening near a jade mine in the Kachin state community of Hpakant, many more people are still missing. (Photo: European Photopress Agency/via BBC News)

Kachin is known for having the world's highest quality of jade, but most of the people who were killed were villagers digging for scraps.

"People were crying," said Brang Seng, a jade businessman. He said that some lost loved ones when boulders and earth ripped down the slopes. "I'm hearing that more than 100 people died. In some cases, entire families were lost."

Landslides are very common in this community. Hpakant, the epicenter of the country's jade boom remains desperately poor. The city's amateur miners often lose their lives picking through waste materials at the giant mine.

Lamai Gum Ja, a community leader, said homes at the base of the mine-waste dump were also flattened. In addition to the dead, he estimated that between 100 and 200 people were missing.

Search and rescue teams are looking for survivors.