A mudslide at a jade mine in Myanmar engulfed homes leaving dozens feared dead.

A 10ft high earth embankments collapsed and swallowed up around 70 properties in Hpakant, Kachin state, in the north of the country in the early hours of Monday morning.

Rescue teams recovered 12 bodies - including three children agenda between two and nine - but they are searching for more victims. Officials believe that more than 50 residents have been killed.

A rescue worker told local media that teams in the Sa Paut village, part of an area which is controlled by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), are continuing to search the debris.

They said: 'The embankment could not withstand the force of the embankments above it, so the embankment burst open, and the embankment in between collapsed. Now everywhere is covered in mud.

'The bodies we have found so far have been found with only a few feet or hands sticking out of their bodies, and the bodies that are still floating in the mud have been pulled out with ropes and whatever they can reach, and it is still difficult to find people in the completely submerged houses.'

KIA spokesman Colonel Naw Bu added: 'KIA officials are trying to dig up the bodies with excavators. The difficulty for them is that the mud is about 20ft deep, so they are working with machinery.'

The disaster highlights poor safety measures in the jade mining industry. The rights group Global Witness estimates that nearly 400,000 people rely on scavenging precious stones in unsafe conditions.

Poor oversight of mining operations has worsened in the turmoil that engulfed Myanmar since the military overthrew an elected government in a February 2021 coup.