Nine men were killed and another one injured by a collapsing slag heap as they scavenged jade remnants at a mine in Hpakant township in Kachin state in northern Myanmar, officials said on Saturday.
The owner of the small mine in Nanthmaw village was among those killed in the incident on Thursday, Radio Free Asia quoted township administrator Kyaw Zwa Aung as saying.
The bodies of those killed were taken to the Hpakant township hospital, he said.
About 200,000 migrant workers search amid dangerous mountains of rubble and tailings in jade mines for pieces of the valuable gemstone left behind in mining operations.
Hpakant, 640 kilometres north of the capital Nay Pyi Daw, produces some of the highest-quality jade in the world. Most of the gems are exported or smuggled to China, where demand is high.
Ohn Win, the minister of natural resources and environmental conservation, vowed in August last year to keep migrant workers out of jade mine sites following a series of deadly accidents involving scavengers in Hpakant.
His pledge followed an accident in May of that year in which at least 13 people were killed.
He said the government would start checking the entrances to the mining areas for illegal migrant workers in an effort to stop scavenging activities in the largely unregulated industry.