A young woman stumbles as she tries to carry a large basket of coal as they illegally scavenge at an open-cast mine in the village of Bokapahari in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand where a community of coal scavengers live and work.
The contrast between India old and new is nowhere more vivid than among the villages of coal scavengers in eastern India, sitting on an apocalyptic landscape of smoke and fire from decades-old underground coal fires. While India grows ever more middle-class and awash in creature comforts, these villagers risk their lives scavenging coal illegally for a few dollars a day, and come back to homes that at any moment could be swallowed by a fresh fire-induced crack in the earth.
A young woman stumbles as she tries to carry a large basket of coal as they illegally scavenge at an open-cast mine in the village of Bokapahari in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)
A laborer chips away at a seam of coal as she scavenges at an open-cast mine in the village of Bokapahari in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand where a community of coal scavengers live and work. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)
Men stand next to the glowing embers of an underground coal fire in the village of Bokapahari. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)
Laborers carry baskets of coal scavenged illegally at an open-cast mine in the village of Bokapahari. The contrast between India old and new is nowhere more vivid than among the villages of coal scavengers in eastern India, sitting on an apocalyptic landscape of smoke and fire from decades-old underground coal fires. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)
A girl dances near plumes of smoke from fires of coal scavenged by her family in the New Colony village in Jharkand, India. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)
Young coal scavengers stand together next to a burning pile of coal in Jharia in Jharkand, India, Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2011. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)
A laborer stands next to small piles of coal burning after scavenging from an open-cast mine in the Jharia district of Jharkand, India. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)
A man and child stay warm next to small piles of burning coal illegally scavenged near an open-cast mine in the Jharia district of the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)
Children stand near a Hindu temple in the New Colony village where a community of coal scavengers live and work in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)
A coal scavenger carries a block of coal illegally from an open-cast mine in the village of Bokapahari in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand where a community of coal scavengers live and work. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)
A young laborer chips away at a seam of coal as he scavenges at an open-cast mine in the village of Bokapahari. While India grows ever more middle-class and awash in creature comforts, these villagers risk their lives scavenging coal illegally for a few dollars a day, and come back to homes that at any moment could be swallowed by a fresh fire-induced crack in the earth. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)
Laborers carry large baskets of coal as they illegally scavenge at an open-cast mine in the village of Bokapahari in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)
Smoke from an underground coal fire rises from the ground near an open-cast mine in the village of Bokapahari, where a community of coal scavengers live and work in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)
Fonte
Kevin Frayer
http://kevinfrayer.blogspot.com/
