Rescuers pulling out mud-slaked bodies from the jade mine in Hpakant, Myanmar, after the landslide on Thursday.—AFP/VNA Photo

HÀ NỘI — Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc on Thursday sent his sympathies to State Counsellor of Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi over the deadly jade mine landslide in Hpakant township, Kachin state.

The same day, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Phạm Bình Minh extended sympathies to Union Minister for International Cooperation Kyaw Tin.

In their letters, Vietnamese leaders affirmed their willingness to share difficulties with Myanmar people and said they believed that they will soon overcome the consequences and stabilise their lives.

The landslide hit at 8am on Thursday after dumped soil fell off a 1,000-feet cliff into a mining pit, downing those in the vicinity of the pit.

Rescuers are working to pull bodies out of a mud lake under a continuous deluge of heavy monsoon rain. The death toll so far is 160.

The workers were mining for gemstones on the sharp mountainous terrain in Hpakant township, where furrows from earlier excavations had already loosened the earth. — VNS