Children and adults squeeze into rat hole-like tunnels in thousands of unregulated mines, extracting coal with their hands and descending to great depths on slippery, rickety wooden ladders.
A crane lifts miners out of a 300ft deep mine shaft, as they head out for their lunch break near the village of Latyrke near Lad Rymbai, in the district of Jaintia Hills, India.
The Jaintia hills, located in India's far North East state of Meghalaya, miners descend to great depths on slippery, rickety wooden ladders.
Workers can earn as much as 150 USD per week or 30,000 Rupees per month, significantly higher than the national average of 15 USD per day.
22 year old Shyam Rai from Nepal makes his way through a rat hole tunnels inside of a coal mine 300 ft beneath the surface near the village of Latyrke near Lad Rymbai, in the district of Jaintia Hills, India.
After traversing treacherous mountain roads, the coal is delivered to neighbouring Bangladesh and to Assam from where it is distributed all over India, to be used primarily for power generation and as a source of fuel in cement plants.
Many workers leave homes in neighbouring states, and countries, like Bangladesh and Nepal, hoping to escape poverty and improve their quality of life. Some send money back to loved ones at home, whilst many others squander their earnings on alcohol, drugs and prostitution in the dusty, coal mining towns like Lad Rymbai.
The government of Meghalaya refuted this figure, claiming that the mines had only 222 minor workers. Despite the ever present dangers and hardships, children, migrants and locals flock to the mines hoping to strike it rich in India's wild east.
Villagers wash themselves after a days work of scavenging coal from an open-cast mine in the village of Jina Gora near Jharia, India.
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