Myanmar: ‘I Thought I Would Die’: Inside Myanmar’s Risky Pursuit of Jade

Jul 3, 2020 | Saw Nang and Richard C. Paddock, New York Times
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Mr. Aung Kyaw Htay was one of hundreds of unauthorized jade pickers scavenging on the edges of the Wai Khar open-pit mine in Kachin State, the lucrative center of Myanmar’s jade trade where rebels and government forces are facing off, when disaster struck. Heavy rains from the annual monsoon had filled the giant mine with water, creating a lake. Just after sunrise on Thursday, a wall of the mine collapsed, crashing into the lake and generating a wave more than 20 feet high.