Looters Target Myanmar Temple Treasures in Tourist Slump

ARTDAILY

This photo taken on June 23, 2020 shows members of a police squad on patrol in a temple complex in Bagan, Mandalay Region. A squad of gun-toting police patrol Myanmar's sacred site of Bagan under the cover of night, taking on plunderers snatching relics from temples forsaken by tourists due to coronavirus restrictions. Ye Aung THU / AFP.

YANGON (AFP).- Two high-ranking officers were fired for having "failed their responsibilities" after a landslide in Myanmar killed at least 174 jade miners, the country's military said on Monday in a rare public sanctioning. Heavy monsoon rains on Thursday sent mud cascading down a hillside over workers scouring the land for the green gemstone in Hpakant in northern Kachin state. The victims were largely poor migrants who had travelled across the country to prospect in the treacherous open-cast mines, hoping to find valuable stones left behind by the big companies. It was the worst tragedy in living memory to hit the shadowy, multi-billion dollar industry dominated by firms linked to the military. [More]