For the brave and hopeful who spend their days digging for jade in Myanmar’s Kachin state, work safety is not a given.
One of the more dangerous aspects of the job is the threat of a landslide.
There are a lot of landslides.
At least six have occurred in Hpakant so far this year, Eleven reported.
Hpakant is Kachin state’s jade-producing epicenter, where much of the trade originates on the way to China, the world’s biggest consumer.
“He was finding rocks on top of land waste,” a relative of one man killed in a February 2 landslide told Eleven. “Suddenly, it was sliding and he was gone. His colleagues escaped but only he was gone.”
The high numbers are not surprising.
In November 2015, at least 100 people were killed in a massive landslide in Hpakant. That entire year the region saw 41 landslides, according to Eleven.
