April 23 (UPI) -- At least 54 jade miners are feared dead after they were buried by a landslide in northern Myanmar on Tuesday.
A local official said it was "very difficult to retrieve the bodies" from the scene where the landslide created what was described as a "mud lake" and three bodies had been recovered as of Tuesday afternoon.
An effort to search for and rescue any survivors in the 100-foot-deep mine is ongoing, but Tin Soe, a member of Parliament representing the area, said the miners won't survive.
"It's not possible because they are buried under mud," Soe said.
The landslide occurred Monday night in the Hpakant area of Kachin state while the miners were sleeping.
Myanmar's ministry of information identified Shwe Nagar Koe Kuang and Myanmar Thura Gems as the companies involved in the incident.
Landslides related to jade mining are common and kill dozens of people in Myanmar every year.
