This photo taken on October 4, 2015 shows freelance miners digging for raw jade stones in piles of waste rubble dumped by mechanical diggers, next to a jade mine in Hpakant, Myanmar's Kachin State.(Photo: AFP/Getty Images)
Up to 70 people were killed and more than 100 were missing following a landslide at a jade mine in northern Burma, according to reports Sunday.
The disaster happened Saturday in the state of Kachin, which produces some of the world's highest quality jade.
Businessman Brang Seng told the Associated Press that most of the dead were villagers who had been sifting through a mountain of rubble and waste. He said rows of bodies were pulled from the debris.
"There were more than 70," he said. "This is awfully bad." Another witness told the BBC at least 50 people were dead. Dozens of huts were buried, the broadcaster reported.
Lamai Gum Ja, a community leader who has interests in the mining business, told the AP that more than 100 people were missing.
Local authorities, servicemembers and residents are carrying out a rescue operation, the state-run
Global New Light of Myanmar, as Burma is also known, reported.
The area brings in billions of dollars a year, but researchers say most of money goes to people and companies linked to the country's former military rulers.
Earlier this month, the National League for Democracy — the party of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi — secured a landslide victory in the nation's first contested national elections in 25 years.
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