A grim seek for bodies follows a jade mine disaster in Myanmar as all hope for survivors is abandoned

Rescue teams including the military, police and area people organizations recovered 113 bodies from the rubble. On Saturday, just one man was found alive, but he soon died from his injuries.

“We only see dead people,” he said, adding that rescue operations continued at the positioning on Tuesday and that several dozen people were probably still missing.

Authorities were unable to substantiate the number of people that were trying to find jade on the time of the landslide.

But supported by the state Burma’s Global New Light he quoted local authorities as estimating one other 30 bodies could still be buried.

It said authorities had deemed the realm “high risk” and were now planning to relocate one other 70 mining huts inbuilt the shadow of other mountains of waste.

Myanmar is the world’s major source of the best jade, an almost translucent green stone that is extremely wanted in neighboring China, where demand is rising as incomes rise.

The highest quality Burmese jade is thought by Chinese devotees as “heaven stone” or “imperial jade” since it was historically the domain of the elite and is believed to own a wealth of virtuous properties, including providing the owner with good health.

The value of jade is dependent upon the standard and craftsmanship of every individual piece, with raw pieces of the valuable stone being imported to China and Hong Kong where they’re carved into jewelry and trinkets that may range in price from just a few dollars to a whole bunch of hundreds.

Mining firms linked to former junta figures, military elite and cronies are believed to be reaping huge profits from the trade, which has expanded dramatically lately despite reforms under the brand new quasi-civilian regime.

As mining firms approach villages in quest of the valuable stone, residents complain of abuses, including land grabs and strong-arm tactics by local security forces.

The area, once densely forested, is now surrounded by bare hills and dotted with huge craters as large-scale mining changes the landscape.

Access to Hpakant is prohibited to just about all foreigners, while the road to the realm is an almost impassable muddy path lined with military checkpoints and big orange trucks of jade firms.

But it’s a magnet for impoverished migrants from across Myanmar who come to the realm in hopes of striking it wealthy.

They often fall victim to the heroin and methamphetamine that flood the realm, a byproduct of Myanmar’s massive drug trade, centered in neighboring Shan State.