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A28 WORLD NEWS
Friday 3 July 2020
Landslide at Myanmar jade mine kills at least 162 people

By ZAW MOE HTET and passes that of a November
PYAE SONE WIN 2015 accident that left 113
Associated Press dead and was previously
HPAKANT, Myanmar (AP) considered the country's
— At least 162 people were worst. In that case, the vic-
killed Thursday in a landslide tims died when a 60-meter
at a jade mine in northern (200-foot) -high mountain
Myanmar, the worst in a of earth and waste dis-
series of deadly accidents carded by several mines
at such sites in recent years tumbled in the middle of
that critics blame on the the night, covering more
government's failure to than 70 huts where miners
take action against unsafe slept.
conditions. Those killed in such acci-
The Myanmar Fire Service dents are usually freelance
Department, which coor- miners who settle near giant
dinates rescues and other mounds of discarded earth
emergency services, an- that has been excavated
nounced about 12 hours by heavy machinery. The
after the morning disaster freelancers who scavenge
that 162 bodies were re- for bits of jade usually work
covered from the landslide and live in abandoned
in Hpakant, the center of mining pits at the base of
the world's biggest and the mounds of earth, which
most lucrative jade mining become particularly unsta-
industry. ble during the rainy season.
The most detailed estimate In this photo released from Myanmar Fire Service Department, rescuers carry a recovered body Most scavengers are un-
of a victim in a landslide from a jade mining area in Hpakant, Kachin state, northern Myanmar
of Myanmar's jade industry Thursday, July 2, 2020. registered migrants from
said it generated about $31 Associated Press other areas, making it hard
billion in 2014. Hpakant is a to determine exactly how
rough and remote area in included the army and oth- At the site of the tragedy, a ment of already very weak many people are actu-
Kachin state, 950 kilometers er government units and lo- crowd gathered in the rain regulations in the jade min- ally missing after such ac-
(600 miles) north of Myan- cal volunteers. around corpses shrouded ing industry. cidents and in many cases
mar's biggest city, Yangon. The London-based environ- in blue and red plastic "The multi-billion dollar sec- leaving the relatives of the
"The jade miners were mental watchdog Global sheets placed in a row on tor is dominated by pow- dead in their home villages
smothered by a wave of Witness said the accident the ground. erful military-linked com- unaware of their fate.
mud," the Fire Service said. "is a damning indictment of Emergency workers had to panies, armed groups and Global Witness, which in-
It said 54 injured people the government"s failure to slog through heavy mud to cronies that have been vestigates misuse of rev-
were taken to hospitals. The curb reckless and irrespon- retrieve bodies by wrap- allowed to operate with- enues from natural resourc-
tolls announced by other sible mining practices in ping them in the plastic out effective social and es, documented the $31
state agencies and me- Kachin state's jade mines." sheets, which were then environmental controls for billion estimate for Myan-
dia lagged behind the fire "The government should im- hung on crossed wooden years," Global Witness said. mar's jade industry in a 2015
agency, which was most mediately suspend large- poles shouldered by the re- Although the military is no report that said most of the
closely involved. An un- scale, illegal and danger- covery teams. longer directly in power in wealth went to individu-
known number of people ous mining in Hpakant and Social activists have com- Myanmar, it is still a major als and companies tied to
are feared missing. ensure companies that en- plained that the profitabil- force in government and the country's former mili-
Those taking part in the re- gage in these practices are ity of jade mining has led exercises authority in re- tary rulers. More recent reli-
covery operations, which no longer able to operate," businesses and the govern- mote regions. able figures are not readily
were suspended after dark, it said in a statement. ment to neglect enforce- Thursday's death toll sur- available.q

24 shot to death in attack on drug rehab center in Mexico

Police in the north-central state has become the most in the past. It was one of
state of Guanajuato said violent in Mexico. the deadliest attacks on a
the attack occurred in the No motive was given in the rehab center since 19 peo-
city of Irapuato. Three of attack, but Gov. Diego Sin- ple were killed in 2010 in
the seven wounded were hue Rodríguez Vallejo said Chihuahua city in northern
reported in serious condi- drug gangs appeared to Mexico. More than a dozen
tion. have been involved. attacks on such facilities
Apparently the attackers "I deeply regret and con- have occurred since then.
shot everyone at the rehab demn the events in Irapua- Mexico has long had prob-
center. State police said to this afternoon," the gov- lems with rehab centers
nobody was abducted. ernor wrote. "The violence because most are privately
Photos purporting to show generated by organized run, underfunded and of-
Relatives comfort a woman crying outside an unregistered drug the scene suggest those at crime not only takes the ten commit abuses against
rehabilitation center in Irapuato, Mexico, Wednesday, July 1, the center were lying down lives of the young, but it recovering addicts. The
2020, after gunmen burst into the facility and opened fire. when they were sprayed takes the peace from fami- government spends rela-
Associated Press with bullets. lies in Guanajuato." tively little money on reha-

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Gun- and opened fire Wednes- Guanajuato is the scene Mexican drug gangs have bilitation, often making the
men burst into an unreg- day, killing 24 people and of a bloody turf battle be- killed suspected street-level unregistered centers the
istered drug rehabilitation wounding seven, authori- tween the Jalisco cartel dealers from rival gangs only option available for
center in central Mexico ties said. and a local gang, and the sheltering at such facilities poor families.q