How limestone kilns are slowly killing entire families in Pakistan

Business Insider

Thousands of workers in southern Pakistan spend their lives mining and cooking limestone. The process releases plumes of toxic smoke, polluting the environment and poisoning workers.

Transcript

00:00 (heart beating)

00:01 Cooking limestone is one of the most dangerous jobs

00:05 in the world.

00:06 These handmade kilns burn for 24 hours straight.

00:11 And workers like Parvez Sheikh

00:14 have to feed the fire constantly,

00:16 breathing toxic fumes and risking severe burns.

00:22 (speaking in foreign language)

00:27 (metal clanking)

00:30 Many workers can't afford an education

00:36 and are stuck in these jobs for life.

00:39 Gulsher Ali and his seven sons mine limestone

00:44 from these cliffs every day,

00:45 setting up dynamite explosions

00:48 without any protective equipment or supervision.

00:51 (water splashing)

00:57 (speaking in foreign language)

01:02 Limestone is a crucial ingredient in all kinds of products,

01:06 from paint to cement and even sugar.

01:08 So why is it so hard to break out of this generational trade?

01:13 And what makes handling limestone such a risky business?

01:18 This part of Sindh province looks barren,

01:25 even though it's rich in minerals.

01:27 But cutting massive rocks of limestone from these cliffs

01:32 without machinery takes hours.

01:34 So workers set up explosives.

01:38 It takes about an hour to dig three feet deep holes.

01:42 (speaking in foreign language)

01:47 Gulsher Ali was just 12

01:52 when he first learned this job from his father.

01:55 He has taught all of his seven sons.

01:58 They're not trained to handle gunpowder

02:01 and anything can go wrong.

02:03 (speaking in foreign language)

02:07 Gulsher adds a layer of fertilizers

02:13 and covers the hole with stones.

02:15 Lighting the dynamite is the most dangerous part.

02:21 They only have a couple of minutes to walk away.

02:24 (speaking in foreign language)

02:28 There isn't any official data in Pakistan

02:45 on the number of deaths, injuries,

02:47 and illnesses in the industry.

02:48 But Gulsher remembers how he was injured nine years ago.

02:53 (speaking in foreign language)

02:57 Still, he spends six hours a day

03:18 moving and breaking rocks

03:20 that weigh as much as 100 pounds.

03:23 (speaking in foreign language)

03:27 The Pakistani government owns this land

03:39 and allows people to mine there for $32 a year.

03:43 Gulsher says his ancestors used to have a permit,

03:47 but he's never applied for one himself.

03:49 And he says no one bothers him.

03:52 (gentle music)

03:54 They wrap up work by 10 a.m.

03:56 and get together for a quick cup of tea.

03:58 Gulsher's sons dropped out of school in the eighth grade

04:03 and also work here full-time.

04:05 (speaking in foreign language)

04:10 Today, they've collected enough to fill a truck.

04:20 They're selling the load to a nearby kiln

04:22 for 2,500 rupees, or just $8.

04:26 And after splitting it,

04:27 each person will be left with just $2 a day.

04:30 These men at the kiln break the rocks

04:38 into even smaller pieces

04:39 and stack them around the furnace.

04:44 It can take three days to build a single kiln,

04:48 which can process up to 1,000 tons of limestone every week.

04:52 This kind of kiln dates back to the Roman Empire

04:58 and was brought to this region by the British.

05:00 Most European countries have ditched them

05:04 for modern machinery.

05:05 The final structure can be as high as 33 feet.

05:10 They leave a narrow opening at the very top

05:14 for the smoke to escape.

05:16 (fire crackling)

05:19 Then workers start building a fire

05:21 by loading up dried farm fronds from date trees nearby.

05:25 Parvez Sheikh has been doing this work

05:29 for more than half his life.

05:30 (speaking in foreign language)

05:36 He keeps feeding the fire until the kiln gets as hot

05:40 as 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit.

05:45 (speaking in foreign language)

05:49 Sizzling hot stones once fell on Parvez from the stacked dome.

05:58 (speaking in foreign language)

06:04 The limestone has to bake for at least 24 hours.

06:11 Five workers take 20-minute shifts

06:14 watching the blaze and adding more leads.

06:17 Parvez and his brother have worked here

06:20 since they were teenagers.

06:21 (speaking in foreign language)

06:26 Parvez has years of experience,

06:39 but he earns only $9 a week,

06:43 also much lower than Sindh's minimum wage.

06:45 And sometimes he has to take out loans

06:48 from the kiln owner to run his household.

06:50 (speaking in foreign language)

06:55 These furnaces and a few others nearby are privately owned,

07:10 and Parvez's cousin, Pappu Sheikh, manages them.

07:12 But he says there's not much he can do to help the workers.

07:17 (speaking in foreign language)

07:22 That's why it's hard to find new workers.

07:36 (speaking in foreign language)

07:40 Parvez works tirelessly

07:46 because he can't afford to take any time off.

07:49 (speaking in foreign language)

07:54 The fire at the furnace eventually goes out on its own,

08:03 and the limestone is left to cool for 24 hours.

08:07 Then all nine workers help break down the kiln.

08:11 The cooked limestone is powdery,

08:16 and Parvez gets coated in dust.

08:19 But workers can't just wash it off

08:24 because quicklime produces heat when it's mixed with water,

08:28 and that can burn you.

08:31 (speaking in foreign language)

08:34 Pakistan exported more than half a million dollars

08:41 worth of limestone in 2021.

08:44 The kiln we filmed at sends it to Bangladesh,

08:48 China, and Sri Lanka.

08:50 Here in Pakistan,

08:53 it's commonly mixed with water to create paint.

08:58 (speaking in foreign language)

09:01 Limestone is crucial for construction

09:09 because it's so versatile.

09:11 It's soft enough to be shaped into bricks,

09:13 but still durable.

09:15 Roads and highways are often paved with it.

09:19 And it's the building blocks of iconic landmarks,

09:23 like the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Parthenon.

09:27 These days, it's a key ingredient in cement,

09:30 which is made by heating limestone

09:32 and mixing it with clay or shale.

09:34 But the production of cement and concrete

09:38 is responsible for 9% of the world's CO2 emissions

09:42 every year.

09:44 And kilns like these are also major pollutants,

09:47 releasing poisonous gases

09:49 like sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide.

09:53 Experts say that's speeding up global warming.

09:56 And southern Pakistan is getting hit.

10:00 Here in Rori,

10:02 temperatures regularly reach 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

10:06 It's so unbearably hot

10:10 that thousands of residents have moved away from the region.

10:13 Harvests have also become unpredictable

10:21 in a region that's known for farming.

10:24 That's why many locals, like Parvez,

10:28 have turned to mining.

10:29 He stops by a goat farm on his way home

10:34 to pick up milk for his four-year-old daughter.

10:36 She was born 15 years after he got married,

10:43 and he wants a better life for her and for his family.

10:47 (speaking in foreign language)

10:51 But there aren't many other jobs in this village,

11:04 so Parvez keeps toiling away at the kiln.

11:08 (speaking in foreign language)

11:12 (gentle music)

11:15 (speaking in foreign language)

11:19 (gentle music)

11:23 (gentle music)

11:26 (gentle music)

11:29 (gentle music)

11:31 (gentle music)

11:34 [MUSIC]

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