At least 90 dead in jade mine landslide in Myanmar

A landslide at a jade mine in Myanmar has killed more than 90 people.

The landslide in Hpakant happened on Sunday morning and saw victims buries in a heap of waste material, with dozens of people missing.

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According to the BBC, many of the dead were people living near the waste dumps who had been searching through the dump site in the hope of finding fragments of jade to sell.

Myanmar Red Cross, the army, police and local community groups are involved in the rescue operation trying to dig people out.

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State-run newspaper Global New Light said that many of the miners were sleeping in huts when the landslide happened.

A Hpakant Township Fire Brigade official told Reuters: "We are sure the death toll will go up since many are still missing."

It is unclear how the landslide was triggered.

The value of jade produced in Myanmar was £20.4bn in 2014 alone.

Last year, a landslide in Afghanistan buried at least 2,000 people after a section of mountain collapsed following torrential rain in the north-east province of Badakhshan.

Rescuers sifted through mud and more than 350 bodies were recovered.

Local police handed out bread and water to thousands of people who spent the night without shelter after their homes were destroyed.

Major General Faziluddin Hayar, the Badakhshan provincial police chief, said: "Now we can only help the displaced people. Those trapped under the landslide and who have lost lives, it is impossible to do anything for them."