Myanmar landslide: 90 dead at Kachin
jade mine
BANGKOK
— It was known locally as Plastic Village, a sprawling encampment made from
tarps and scraps of trash and inhabited by workers who scavenged for jade in
the rugged hills of northern Myanmar.
Rescue
workers on Monday continued to dig through the remnants of the encampment after a
landslide over the weekend buried it along with at least 120 people.
The
landslide was Myanmar’s worst
jade mining disaster in recent years, highlighting the primitive conditions of an industry that
is highly lucrative but notorious for its secrecy and hazardous working conditions.
By
Monday, about 120 bodies had been found since the landslide struck in the dead
of night early Saturday, according to U Naw Land, the secretary of the Kachin
National Social Development Foundation, a charitable organization that helped
organize the rescue and recovery efforts.
Another
community leader involved in the rescue operation, U Dohtoi, said the number of
bodies recovered had overwhelmed the hospital morgue in Hpakant, a commercial
hub of the jade mining industry a half-hour drive away.
The
jade mines, off limits to outsiders and often controlled by shadowy companies
with links to the heroin and methamphetamine trades, produce mountains of waste
that are deposited by the truckload at dumping sites.
Structure of the
lead:
Who- 120 bodies
When- by Monday
What- Myanmar landslide
Why- highlighting the primitive conditions of an industry that
is highly lucrative but notorious for its secrecy and hazardous working conditions.
Where- northern Myanmar
How- not
given
Keywords:
1.
encampment 紮營
2.
tarp 柏油帆布
3.
scavenge 清除
4.
lucrative 有利可圖
People should not go to the pursuit of those rare minerals, and those expensive stones caused many people to lose friends and relatives, but also to the harsh businessmen who earned more money.
回覆刪除