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Suluktu (Kyrgyzstan) (AFP) – Lots of of metres underground, Emylbek Umarov hacks out lumps of coal by hand with a pickaxe in a dank mine in a distant mountainous nook of Kyrgyzstan.
Coal could also be falling out of favour elsewhere due to local weather change, however Suluktu’s mines hope rising demand from neighbouring Central Asian nations and past will assist them return to their Soviet heyday.
For some, like Umarov, the mine is among the few locations providing work — regardless of the specter of accidents which have killed dozens of individuals within the space lately.
“It is terrifying, it is robust, however there isn’t any different work right here,” stated the 27-year-old, who has two levels in computing and economics.
As he spoke, the coughing of miners with blackened faces echoed by way of the tunnels illuminated by just a few lamps hanging from a ceiling dripping with water.
The lads work with jackhammers, pickaxes and explosives on 12-hour shifts day or night time 15 days a month for a month-to-month wage of lower than 150 euros ($160).
Earlier than beginning their shifts, they must journey an hour to the mine in massive Russian-made Kamaz vehicles alongside a badly rutted highway.
The hulks of Soviet-era equipment may be seen within the pinkish daybreak.
‘We have been proud’
Tucked away within the mountains, the city of Suluktu was based in 1868 and is among the oldest coal extraction hubs in Central Asia.
From the “miner’s bread” on sale in native bakeries to the native soccer workforce known as “Shakhtar” (Miner) — every thing within the city is a reminder of its fundamental trade, together with the coal mud coating the bottom.
Suluktu “heated Central Asia throughout Soviet occasions”, stated its mayor, Maksat Kadyrkulov.
Like settlements throughout the previous Soviet Union, it suffered from deindustrialisation after its collapse, resulting in a pointy drop in inhabitants and coal output.
“There isn’t any farmland right here. We simply dig coal and there’s no household and not using a miner,” Kadyrkulov stated.
The mayor stated he hoped Suluktu would get well its “previous glory” because of rising demand for coal.
The Soviet period is a continuing presence within the city.
On its outskirts stands a monument depicting two miners with a four-metre-high hammer and sickle.
‘Every little thing by hand’
Vehicles full of coal file previous the statues on their option to ship their cargo to Uzbekistan and past since entry to close by Tajikistan is now closed off due to a flare-up of tensions alongside the border.
A mosaic close by extols the glory of Soviet energy, displaying a miner with a purple star behind him.
Earlier than “we have been proud to be miners”, stated 64-year-old Nimadjan Abdulayevich, who spent 37 years within the mines, his voice hoarse from throat most cancers.
Whereas there have been no deadly accidents within the mine the place Umarov works, the danger is fixed.
“The mine is sort of a second entrance. You danger dying there,” is a phrase that miners usually repeat.
Final 12 months, the steel bars holding up the vein the place Umarov was working collapsed, breaking his leg.
“Since then, the concern stays,” he stated.
His father Dzhumbai, who now works on the floor as a welder, was caught up in an identical accident.
Mine director Kanynbek Ismailov stated he lacked the assets for brand spanking new gear, though the situations within the mine are among the many better of the 40 or so in Suluktu.
“We do every thing by hand. We should not have new gear,” Ismailov stated.
© 2022 AFP
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