• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
One of the most dangerous jobs in the world only pays $12 a day

Home> News

Updated 16:13 8 Aug 2022 GMT+1Published 13:20 8 Aug 2022 GMT+1

One of the most dangerous jobs in the world only pays $12 a day

Get ready to meet the workers risking their lives for just $12 a day.

Shola Lee

Shola Lee

Get ready to meet the workers risking their lives for just $12 a day.

If you thought your job was bad, wait until you hear about the colleagues whose team bonding exercises involve a giant volcano and carrying their body weight in sulphur up a mountain.

What's worse is that many of them don't make it past 50, due to their dangerous working conditions.

Mistar lifts his body weight in sulphur.
Insider News/YouTube

Advert

So, what is this awful job?

It's sulphur mining inside an active volcano in Indonesia and if you're wondering why the workers would risk their lives for just $12 a day, it's because the job is one of the better paid in the area.

As one of the miners, Mistar, who's been working on the Ljen Plateau for 30 years, explained that it's not easy work.

He revealed what the job involves and what they use the sulphur for.

Advert

He said: "Every day carrying sulphur, if our shoulders swell, it's normal.

"Even though this is a dangerous situation, we dare to die because we're afraid of hunger."

Their day-to-day role consists of taking two baskets into the volcano, filling them with around 200lbs of sulphur, and walking back up the mountain.

Advert

This process is repeated until the work is done, or they're forced to evacuate due to harmful white smoke pluming up from the volcano.

"We have to save ourselves immediately. We have to run if the smoke comes out."

Miners also typically have little protective clothing, with Mistar and his team wrapping cloth dipped in the water around their mouths to stop the sulphur from sticking.

Mistar has been working as a miner for 30 years.
Insider News/YouTube

Advert

And in 2011 the BBC reported that, in the past 40 years, 74 miners have died from just the overpowering fumes alone.

Mistar saying of the toxic fumes: "If it gets into your nose or mouth, it will suffocate you.

"If smoke enters the body, we will feel tightness, pain in the gut."

Mistar went on to explain: "Some of the miners here are sick. Sometimes while mining they have stomach-aches. Sometimes slipping. Sometimes someone breaks their legs."

Advert

This means that a lot of the workers have to 'climb up [the volcano] slowly, because if you are in a hurry, it will endanger yourself. You can fall'.

And if you're wondering what this is all in aid of, well, sulphur is used to make our sugar white, matches, and even some make-up products.

It comes typically comes from oil and gas refining but this volcanic outpost is one of the natural sulphur reserves still being mined.

If you have a story you want to tell, send it to UNILAD via [email protected] 

Featured Image Credit: Insider News/YouTube

Topics: News, Health, World News, Social Media

Shola Lee
Shola Lee

Shola Lee began her journalism career while studying for her undergraduate degree at Queen Mary, University of London and Columbia University in New York. She has written for the Columbia Spectator, QM Global Bloggers, CUB Magazine, UniDays, and Warner Brothers' Wizarding World Digital. Recently, Shola took part in the 2021 BAFTA Crew and BBC New Creatives programme before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news, trending stories, and features.

Advert

Advert

Advert

  • Man who discovered 'America's most inbred family' details the moment they 'pulled a gun' out on him
  • Former Miss World contestant reveals one way to spot 'people like her' after 'sociopath' diagnosis
  • Horrifying simulation shows what happened to man who fell into Yellowstone hot spring and was completely dissolved within a day
  • Girl, 9, dies after collapsing during her first day at school

Choose your content:

8 mins ago
an hour ago
  • 8 mins ago

    World’s oldest baby has been born

    Thaddeus Daniel Pierce arrived into the world to Ohio parents, Lindsey and Tim Pierce

    News
  • 8 mins ago

    Final meal of death row inmate revealed after he shared disturbing message before execution

    Edward Zakrzewski was executed on July 31 via lethal injection

    News
  • an hour ago

    Every celebrity with Lyme disease after Justin Timberlake reveals 'shock' diagnosis

    Justin Timberlake announced on Thursday that he has Lyme Disease

    Celebrity
  • an hour ago

    Top 5 titles you need to binge this weekend include Netflix’s new true crime series featuring serial killer who ‘haunted’ New York

    If you're looking for something to watch, this week's UNILAD Ranked has got you covered

    Film & TV