April 2019 Hpakant jade mine collapse

Last updated
2019 Hpakant jade mine collapse
Date22 April 2019
LocationMaw Wun Kalay, Hpakant, Kachin State, Myanmar
Coordinates 25°37′30″N96°16′48″E / 25.62500°N 96.28000°E / 25.62500; 96.28000
Deaths6 (including two rescue workers)
Missing50+

On 22 April 2019, a landslide triggered the collapse of a jade mine near Maw Wun Kalay, Hpakant, Kachin State, Myanmar, trapping at least 54 miners. [1] [2] The deaths of four miners were confirmed, along with the later deaths of two rescue workers. [3] [4] The remaining miners were presumed to have died. [5]

Contents

Collapse

At 23:30 MMT, a mud-filled pond at a jade mine in Hpakant collapsed. [1] The mud and tailings in the pond buried miners below it in up to 30.5 metres of mud. [6] At the time, the miners were asleep in their residences, which were located below the mine. [7] The miners belonged to two different companies: Myanmar Thura and Shwe Nagar Koe Kaung, [8] while the mine was operated by Unity Co. [9] A photo taken some time before the mine collapse and posted on Facebook showed a large pool of water being formed above the miners, while the Myanmar Thura company mined against the earth under the water. [10]

Rescue efforts

Rescue efforts were started on 23 April, the morning after the collapse. [2] The efforts were coordinated by the local government and welfare organizations. According to Tin Soe, a politician representing the area, removing the mud "could cost millions of dollars." [6] He also said that "they [the miners buried under the landslide] won’t survive. It is not possible because they are buried under mud." [11] Four bodies were recovered. [3] The search for more miners was cancelled on 26 April, after another landslide killed two of the rescue workers. [4]

Reactions

In response to the collapse, the acting UN Resident Coordinator to Myanmar called on the country to implement new safety legislation to protect mine workers. [3] The natural resource minister of Kachin said that he would take action against the mining companies involved in the incident, [12] and said that he wanted mining companies to work to improve the safety of their mines. [13] Following the collapse, the Lonekhin Jade Office carried out a survey on the safety of other jade mines in the region, reporting to the Myanmar government that other mining blocks in the area were also dangerous. In response, the Myanmar central government suspended operations in seventeen mine blocks in Hapakant, affecting eleven companies. [9] None of the companies the miners worked for or who operated the mine were shut down or found at fault by the Myanmar government. The Myanma Gems Enterprise instead blamed the collapse on "the instability of the earth." [5] Some of the families of the miners were compensated, with one family receiving approximately $30,000USD, more than the average compensation for the victims of other industrial accidents in Hpakant. [10]

Reporters from Frontier Myanmar said that their investigation found that the collapse was preventable, and blamed it on policy failures under the current National League for Democracy and previous governments. [14] All three of Myanmar Thura's mining licenses had expired in 2017, and the company had never been licensed to work in this mine. [10] [14]

In May, 2019, the government issued a three month ban on mining in Hpakant, to prevent a collapse during the monsoon season. [15]

See also

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Events of 2020 in Myanmar.

On 2 July 2020, a major landslide at the Wai Khar jade mining site in the Hpakant area of Kachin State, Myanmar, killed between 175 and 200 miners in the country's deadliest-ever mining accident. At 06:30 local time (MMT) heavy rains triggered the collapse of a heap of mining waste, which came tumbling down into a lake. This generated a 6.1-meter (20 ft) wave of mud and water that buried those working at the Wai Khar mine. The miners killed or injured by the landslide were independent "jade pickers", who scavenge tailings from larger operators and who live in ramshackle quarters at the base of large mounds of rubble.

In the early morning of July 28, 2019, a landslide in a Hpakant jade mine killed at least 17 people, leaving others missing and two injured. The people killed were workers from Yarzahtarni Jade Mining Company, local police, and others unaffiliated with the mine.

On December 22, 2021, a landslide at a jade mine in the Hpakant township in Kachin State, Myanmar, killed at least three people, and left between 70 to 100 missing.

The 2023 Hpakant jade mine disaster occurred on August 13, 2023, when the Hpakant Jade Mines experienced the third documented landslide in the area. Hpakant is located in Kachin, Myanmar. The landslide killed 32 people when tailings swept the miners into a nearby lake. Myanmar is considered the sodium alumina silicate (jade) capital of the world because it has the highest concentration of jade. Hpakant provides 70% of the world's jade. It is estimated that Myanmar’s jade industry is worth more than 31 billion dollars annually, about half of its GDP. Despite the 1974 Nationalisation of Industry Act, most of Myanmar’s jade is sold illegally. Chinese companies work with the military to create untraceable Chinese-owned shell companies like Wai Kharmine. Myanmar’s jade industry is contentious because it degrades the environment and endangers miners, while supporting political turmoil by financially aiding the military junta (Tatmadaw) and ethnic militias.

References

  1. 1 2 "More than 50 feared dead after landslide at Myanmar jade mine". www.aljazeera.com. Archived from the original on 2019-04-23. Retrieved 2019-04-23.
  2. 1 2 "More than 50 believed killed in collapse at Myanmar jade mine". Reuters. 2019-04-23. Archived from the original on 2019-04-23. Retrieved 2019-04-23.
  3. 1 2 3 "Deadly mining accident: Rescuers battle to find dozens killed in Myanmar mudslide". today.rtl.lu. Archived from the original on 2019-04-24. Retrieved 2019-04-24.
  4. 1 2 "Search mission ended in Myanmar jade mining accident". www.aa.com.tr. Archived from the original on 2019-04-27. Retrieved 2019-04-28.
  5. 1 2 "Landslide at Myanmar jade mine kills more than a dozen". www.aljazeera.com. Archived from the original on 2021-12-22. Retrieved 2021-03-16.
  6. 1 2 "54 miners missing and feared dead after mudslide at Myanmar jade mine". www.cbsnews.com. Archived from the original on 2019-04-23. Retrieved 2019-04-23.
  7. ↑ "Myanmar landslide buries over 50 miners". 2019-04-23. Archived from the original on 2019-04-23. Retrieved 2019-04-23.
  8. ↑ "54 believed dead in Hpakant landslide". The Myanmar Times. 2019-04-23. Archived from the original on 2021-02-19. Retrieved 2021-03-16.
  9. 1 2 "Jade mining suspended in 17 Hpakant blocks after landslide". The Myanmar Times. 2019-04-30. Archived from the original on 2021-02-19. Retrieved 2021-03-16.
  10. 1 2 3 Lewis, Shoon Naing, Sam Aung Moon, Simon (2019-05-17). "'Lives are cheap': Grief, anger as landslide rocks Myanmar's jade hills". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2022-04-23. Retrieved 2021-03-17.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. ↑ "Myanmar landslide: more than 50 jade miners feared dead in 'mudlake'". the Guardian. 2019-04-25. Archived from the original on 2021-03-08. Retrieved 2021-03-16.
  12. ↑ "Minister Vows 'Action Will Be Taken' Against Mining Firms as New Mudslide Kills Two More in Hpakant". Myanmar Now. Archived from the original on 2019-05-03. Retrieved 2019-05-03.
  13. ↑ "11 exploitations de jade suspendues à Hpakant". lepetitjournal.com (in French). Archived from the original on 2020-09-12. Retrieved 2019-05-03.
  14. 1 2 "The jade mining crisis". Frontier Myanmar. 2019-06-03. Archived from the original on 2021-03-08. Retrieved 2021-03-17.
  15. ↑ "Govt plans three-month mining moratorium in disaster-prone Hpakant". The Myanmar Times. 2019-05-22. Archived from the original on 2022-04-23. Retrieved 2021-03-17.
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