- Title: UKRAINE: POVERTY-STRICKEN MINERS SEARCH FOR COAL IN CONDEMNED PITS.
- Date: 8th February 2002
- Summary: (U4) SNEZHNOYE, DONETSK REGION, UKRAINE (FEBRUARY 6, 2002) (REUTERS-ACCESS ALL) 1. GV: MAN PULLING BUCKET FROM SHAFT 0.07 2. GV: BUCKET WITH COAL BROUGHT UP ON A ROPE 0.12 3. GV: MINER TAKING THE BUCKET AND WALKING AWAY 0.21 4. CU: CLOSE-UP OF MINER CHOPPING COAL INSIDE SHAFT 0.28 5. SCU: CLOSE-UP OF GENNADY WORKING IN A RESPIRATORY MASK 0.31 6. CU: CHUNKS OF COAL FALLING 0.35 7. MV: (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) GENNADY, 36, UMEMPLOYED MINER SAYING: "I know I might not last long but what can I do?, I have a growing child to support" 0.44 8. LV/GV: LOCAL COLLIERY (3 SHOTS) 0.59 9. MV/TV: WOMAN GATHERING COAL FROM OPEN PIT (2 SHOTS) 1.10 10. MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) MINER'S SON 11-YEAR-OLD OLEG SAYING: "My father chops the coal and I shovel it to the bucket and my uncle pulls it up. There are more guys like me there. My father gives me 25 hryvnias (5 U.S. dollars) a month" 1.27 11. MV: MINERS SHOVELLING COAL INTO BUCKET 1.36 12. MV: MINER PUTTING COAL INTO SACKS 1.41 13. GV/TV/LAS: MINER CLIMBING DOWN INTO PIT (3 SHOTS) 2.05 14. MCU: LUMP OF COAL 2.09 15. CU: (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) VLADIMIR, 32, UNEMPLOYED MINER SAYING: "They [the government] gave us big promises and in the end gave us peanuts. That's why we work here every day and every day we get real cash. You know yourself - if you've got money, you've got it all. No money and you're nobody." 2.38 16. GV: MINERS PILING SACKS WITH COAL 2.45 17. GV/PAN: MAN GOING HOME WITH TWO BUCKETS OF COAL 2.52 18. GV: HOUSE AND CHIMNEY WITH NO SMOKE COMING FROM IT 2.57 19. LV/PAN: VIEW OF THE VILLAGE 3.08 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 23rd February 2002 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: SNEZHNOYE, DONETSK, UKRAINE
- Country: Ukraine
- Reuters ID: LVA9DPAHCATCUOLNYQT1GGOYXATP
- Story Text: Driven by poverty, miners in Ukraine have been digging
for coal in condemned pits. It's a risky business, because the
abandoned pits are dangerous and the digging is illegal.
Miners in the village of Snezhnoye (Pron. SENEZ-NOYE)
have taken matters into their own hands.
Staring poverty in the face and with nowhere else to go,
they hack out makeshift pits like this one, using only picks
and shovels to get to the high-quality black coal.
The pits, around 10 metres deep and topped only by
makeshift winding gear cobbled together from wooden braces,
steel rods and an old lorry wheel, are only metres (yards)
away from their houses.
It is a haphazard, and dangerous business and one of the
pits in the village - there are 34 of them - recently
collapsed. No one was injured, but the miners says it is only
a matter of time before disaster strikes.
"I know I might not last long but what can I do?, I have
a growing child to support," said Gennady, a 36-year-old
miner, as he knelt at the coal face down in one of the pits, a
dust protection mask covering his face.
Places like Snezhnoye in the coal-rich Donetsk (Pron.
DOU-NET-SK) region are dying slowly after the collapse of
Ukraine's inefficient coal industry. And the hopelessness
affects all the population, young and old.
"My father chops the coal and I shovel it to the bucket
and my uncle pulls it up. There are more guys like me there.
My father gives me 25 hryvnias (5 U.S. dollars) a month," says
Oleg, an 11-year-old miner's son.
The miners admit that they are stealing from the state;
and no one will give his full name. But they say they have no
choice.
"They [the government] gave us big promises and in the
end gave us peanuts. That's why we work here every day and
every day we get real cash. You know yourself - if you've got
money, you've got it all. No money and you're nobody," said
32-year-old Vladimir.
The miners say they take home 50 hryvnias (10 U.S.
dollars) a day each from their illegal work. But it's good
money compared to the 200-300 hryvnias (40-60 U.S. dollars) a
month they are supposed to receive from their official jobs.
Most of the illicit coal is bought up by private
businessmen, who then sell it on at higher prices in other
regions of Ukraine that are starved of fuel supplies.
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
