Project Detail: The Yellow Hell

Contest:

LuganoPhotoDays 2016



Brand:

LuganoPhotoDays



Author:

paola colzani

 

Project Info

The Yellow Hell

Kawah Ijen, East java, Indonesia.

Up to 2.368 meters of the volcano and down for about 200 meters to the crater where a light blue lake of sulfuric acid lies. Down there every day hundred men work in the sulfur mine for few Rp. Miners work without protection equipment, which is not affordable for them. Only their hands and scarves help them to protect from the steams and acid gases that come from the volcano. Once the miners break the solid sulfur in blocks they collect them into baskets and they go up to the weighing station with these heavy yellow blocks. 80 kg or more over their shoulders. This trip is repeated several times in one single day.

Sulfur is used in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry.

Photos

01 View of the sulfur mine in the crater, covered by steams and gases

02 Miners break the solid sulfur in chunks

03 Miners work in dangerous conditions, mostly protected only by scarves

04 Blocks of sulfur are placed in baskets to be carried up to the weighing station

05 Toxic gases fill the air making difficult even to breathe

06 In each trip a miner can carry up to the 80 kg blocks of sulfur, for only 50.000 rp

07 Starting earlier than 4 am the miners spend more than 8 hours in this extreme condition

08 Sulfur is used in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry