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Rescue operations continued for a fourth day amid the country’s worst ever jade mine landslide as more bodies were buried.
Mandalay, Myanmar – Aye Mon, 30, alone two–Year–old Her husband and younger brother were killed in Myanmar’s worst jade mine landslide that killed more than 170 people on Thursday.
Hoping to find the gemstone that could change his future, her brother Shwe Moe Tun, 22, traveled more than 600 kilometers (370 miles) from his village in Monywa to Pagant in Myanmar’s northern Kachin State area, where a mysterious 1 billion-yuan jade industry resides.
“My husband has worked in the jade mining industry for more than 10 years. But this is the first time for my brother. This is his second working day in the mine,” Aye Mon told Al Jazeera.
At least 40 jade pickers killed in the Wai Khar mine disaster were buried on Saturday and 77 others were buried in mass graves on Friday, the country’s fire service said on its Facebook page.
Many more were cremated, according to Buddhist tradition.
Rescue operations continued into their fourth day on Sunday, with bodies still being retrieved from the crash site.
Aye Mon’s husband, Soe Min, 31, and her brother were among hundreds of jade pickers at the mine when the disaster struck, as heavy rains flooded the mine, forming a lake.
A wall of a mine has crashed into a lake, causing a deadly landslide with a huge cloud of mud.
“My husband and my brother were buried yesterday (Saturday). I have nothing to depend on in my life. All I have left is my two-year-old daughter,” said Aye Mon.
Migrants from all over Myanmar travel thousands of miles to Hpakant in search of jadeite, a stone that is exported across the border to China, hoping to find neglected pieces of jadeite.
Hpakant MP Khin Aung Myint told Al Jazeera that the Wai Khar mine has been officially closed due to the danger of landslides.
But unauthorized jade pickers still flock to the mine, expected to pay a portion of their earnings to rebel groups operating in the area.
The jade industry, largely controlled by companies linked to Myanmar’s powerful military, is a multibillion-dollar trade each year.
Human rights group Global Witness says trade funds have fueled armed clashes between government forces and ethnic Kachin rebels fighting for autonomy in the region.
It also said the landslide was a “stern indictment of the government’s failure to curb reckless and irresponsible mining practices”.
“Words cannot describe his death”
Win Kyaw, 44, worked as an unauthorized jade picker for 20 years and managed to find jade pieces worth as little as $10 to $15. He said his 20-year-old son, Kyaw Myat Moe, who died in the landslide, managed to recover two large pieces but those were taken away.
“My son got two big rocks last year, but a group of soldiers from the Myanmar army took them from him. If we find a big rock, they always come and ask for it,” Win Kyaw told Al Jazeera.
On the day of the accident, Win Kyaw asked his son to go to work by himself because he had other things to attend to.
Upon learning of the landslide, Win Kyaw rushed to the scene only to find his son’s body submerged in muddy water.
“It’s a huge loss for the family because we only have one son,” he told Al Jazeera. “I have no words to describe his death. I feel lost. It’s like our leg is broken.”
The distraught father said his nephew helped him make a wooden coffin for his son. “We buried him yesterday (Saturday),” he said.
Despite the risks, thousands of workers, including Win Kyaw, are preparing to return to the mines in a desperate search for gems in hopes of making a fortune.
That makes disasters like Thursday’s more difficult to prevent, officials said.
“I will continue to work here. This is where my son died. I will not go back until I am rich,” Win Kyaw said.
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