A massive landslide at a jade mine in Myanmar has killed at least 162 people. A dramatic video captured the wall of earth sliding down a mountainside into a water-filled pit.
"The jade miners were smothered by a wave of mud, which hit after heavy rainfall," the Fire Service said, according to The Associated Press. Reuters says the victims were mostly"jade pickers" — people who sift through tailings to scavenge small bits of the semi-precious stone.
The landslide occurred in Kachin state, about 600 miles north of the country's largest city, Yangon. Kachin is the center of the world's most lucrative jade-mining industry. Myanmar's jade industry was estimated to be worth $31 billion in 2014.
According to Reuters, a local official had warned people not to go to the mine on Thursday because of heavy rain.
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