Nearly 100 bodies have been pulled from a landslide near a jade mine in Myanmar's northern Kachin State, local officials said, and hopes are dwindling that any of the estimated 100 people still missing will be found alive.

Key points: Over 95 people recovered dead in landslide as rescue operation continues, officials say

Over 95 people recovered dead in landslide as rescue operation continues, officials say 100 people are still estimated to be missing

100 people are still estimated to be missing Massive landslide crushes dozens of shanty huts on barren mining area

Massive landslide crushes dozens of shanty huts on barren mining area Advocates call for jade mining industry to improve standards

The landslide happened in the early hours of Saturday in Hpakant, an area that produces some of the world's highest-quality jade.

Mines and dump sites for debris in Myanmar are rife with hazards and landslides are not uncommon, though rarely this deadly.

As of 4:00pm yesterday local time, 97 bodies had been pulled from the landslide, according to Tin Swe Myint, head of the Hpakant Township Administration Department.

That number was expected to rise, but it remains unclear exactly how many people may be buried.

"We just don't know how many people exactly were buried since we don't have any data on people living there," he said.

"It was just a slum with these ... workers living in makeshift tents. Nobody knows for sure how many and where they had come from."

An official with the Hpakant Township Fire Brigade who asked not to be named said an estimated 100 people were still missing.

Workers, many of them migrants from other parts of the country, toil long hours for little pay searching for precious jade stones.

The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said many of the miners were sleeping in huts when the landslide occurred.

The landslide occurred at around 3:00am (local time) when many miners were sleeping, according to Ko Sai, a miner who was sleeping at a nearby camp.

It was unclear what triggered the landslide in the remote and mountainous region that is almost entirely off limits to foreigners.

"We just heard a loud noise sounding like thunder and saw that the huge mountain collapsed and a huge wave of rubble was moving and sprawling on a wide area," Ko Sai said.

"It was just like a nightmare."

Myanmar's secretive jade trade

Zaw Htay, a senior official from the president's office, said rescue efforts were being carried out by local authorities.

"Responsible officials from Kachin State government are taking care of rescue and relief works," he said.

Tin Swe Myint added: "I think chances of finding anyone alive are very thin."

Myanmar's jade industry is extremely opaque and much of the jade that is mined in Hpakant is believed to be smuggled to neighbouring China where the stone is highly valued.

Environmental advocacy group Global Witness, which published a comprehensive report on the sector earlier this year, said the value of jade production in Myanmar is estimated to have been as much as $43 billion in 2014, the equivalent of nearly half the country's GDP.

But that figure is nearly 10 times the official $4.7 billion sales of the precious stone last year.

Many of the jade mines are connected to government officials, members of armed ethnic groups and cronies with close ties to the former military government, the group found.

Safety measures at the mines and surrounding dumping sites are minimal.

"These crony-owned mining companies piled this giant mine dump near the village without any consideration for the safety of the village that has existed all along," the fire official said.

Rescuers battled to dig through the mountains of loose rubble at the site of the landslide, fearing the death toll could rise. ( AFP )

Myanmar's northern mine area a 'dystopian wasteland'

Myanmar is the source of virtually all of the world's finest jadeite, an almost translucent green stone that is prized above almost all other materials in neighbouring China.

Local people in Hpakant complain of a litany of abuses associated with the mining industry, including the frequency of accidents and land confiscations.

The area has been turned into a moonscape of environmental destruction as huge diggers gouge the earth looking for jade.

Itinerant miners are drawn from all parts of Myanmar by the promise of riches and become easy prey for drug addiction in Hpakant, where heroin and methamphetamine are cheaply available on the streets.

"Industrial-scale mining by big companies controlled by military families and companies, cronies and drug lords has made Hpakant a dystopian wasteland where locals are literally having the ground cut from under their feet," said Mike Davis of Global Witness, calling for firms to be held accountable for accidents.

The group wants the jade industry, which has long been the subject of US sanctions, to be part of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), a global scheme designed to increase transparency around natural resource management.



Reuters/AFP