'Sapphire rush' threatens rainforests of Madagascar

The influx of thousands of gem hunters is disfiguring a protected environment and prompting calls for military intervention

A "sapphire rush" has brought tens of thousands of people into the remote rainforests of eastern Madagascar, disfiguring a protected environmental area and prompting calls for military intervention.

More high-quality sapphires have been found in the biodiverse area known as Corridor Ankeniheny-Zahamena in the past six months than were found in the entire country over the past 20 years, according to Vincent Pardieu, a French gemologist who has been visiting mines there for more than a decade.