1Photo by Mohamed Ali Eddin

Egypt’s Limestone Quarries : Picturesque but Deadly

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A worker gets covered in limestone dust as he uses a machine with rotary blades(Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)

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In Egypt's southern deserts, men arrive at dawn to start working in snowy-white limestone pits.

Throughout the day, the quarry workers cut stones with large machinery and sharp rotor blades. An estimated 45,000 people work in more than 1,500 quarries in Egypt, cutting and moving the bricks that will later be used in building construction throughout the country. Some of the limestone will also be powdered to be used by pharmaceutical and ceramic companies.

This type of work, however, is one of the deadliest jobs in Egypt.They earn between $10 and $16 a day with no medical insurance. Some have lost arms, legs or fingers in accidents, and there is a high risk of various respiratory and skin diseases.

-- AP

在埃及南部距離開羅幾百英裡明雅省石灰石採石場中，人們在厚厚的石灰岩粉塵、切割石頭的大型機械和鋒利的旋轉刀片中工作。，估計包括十歲左右童工在內約有 4萬 5名的工人在 1500多個礦場進行繁重地勞動。他們從日出一直工作到中午炎熱難耐的時候，一天賺 10美元到 16美元，對於其他工作來說這是高薪水，可以使家庭免於窮困。而採石工所從事的是埃及最危險的職業之一。工人們面臨著極高的斷肢、觸電和患呼吸道及皮膚疾病的風險，卻沒有任何的醫療保險。

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The Jabel Altair village sends hundreds of workers daily to the quarries in Minya. The limited number of agricultural plots and jobs force residents to work in dangerous conditions in the quarries. (Mohamed Ali Eddin)

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Photo by MOSA'AB ELSHAMY/AP

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Work begins at the quarry when the sun rises. ( Mohamed Ali Eddin)

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The rising sun is seen through clouds of dust as workers cut limestone into blocks at a quarry in the desert(Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)

8Photo by MOSA'AB ELSHAMY/AP

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through clouds of dust as workers cut limestone into blocks at a quarry in the desert

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Pillars of dust rise as workers cut through the quarry with heavy machinery in Minya, Egypt. (Mohamed Ali Eddin)

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A masked worker walks past bricks at a limestone quarry in the desert.(Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)

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A quarryman walks across limestone bricks(Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)

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Workers extract limestone in a snow-white landscape at a quarry in the desert. (Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)

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Pillars of dust rise as workers cut through the quarry with heavy machinery in Minya, Egypt. ( Mohamed Ali Eddin)

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Quarry workers collect limestone blocks after a cutting machine finished its work in

Minya.(Mohamed Ali Eddin)

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Workers extract limestone at a quarry in the desert. (Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)

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Spilled oil is seen in the foreground as a worker cuts limestone blocks. (Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)

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A quarry worker carries bags for powdered limestone. (Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)

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A worker drinks water under the baking desert sun. (Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)

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A worker walks near a damaged rotary blade used to cut through limestone. (Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)

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Visibility is limited when wind slows and dust rises, increasing the risk of accidents. Photo by Mohamed Ali Eddin

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Photo by MOSA'AB ELSHAMY/AP

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Workers repair a machine to be ready for cutting the limestone blocks in Minya . (Mohamed Ali Eddin)

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Workers called cutting blades the “reaper of lives.” (Mohamed Ali Eddin)

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Blacksmiths maintain quarry machines. (Mohamed Ali Eddin)

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The ultra sharp blades are the main tools used to cut through limestone pits at high velocity and is the main cause of injuries among quarry workers. (Photo by Mosa'ab Elshamy/AP Photo)

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Injuries from electrocution are not uncommon among quarry workers who may step on exposed wires that snake across the entire quarry. (Photo by Mosa'ab Elshamy/AP Photo)

28Photo by Tabitha Ross

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A worker in one of the Minya limestone quarries. (Mohamed Ali Eddin)

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A worker wears a mask to minimise the effects of limestone dust.(Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)

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A worker in a limestone quarry wears a mask to protect himself from the dust thrown up by the cutting machine(Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)

32(Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)

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There is no safety equipment in Minya’s limestone quarries, and many workers are injured or killed because of unsafe machines. (Mohamed Ali Eddin)

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Workers drink tea during their half-hour break. Most of the quarry workers are not only friends but are from the same families and the same villages, so they have very strong relationships. Photo by Mohamed Ali Eddin

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Workers load limestone blocks onto a truck at 10 p.m., depending on lights from the truck and fire torches to work in the darkness.( Mohamed Ali Eddin)

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Quarry workers try to keep themselves warm around a bonfire as they wait for work after dawn in Shurafa village, Minya, southern Egypt. (Photo by Mosa'ab Elshamy/AP Photo)

37Workers wait in the truck for the daily journey to the quarries. (Mohamed Ali Eddin)

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Quarry workers gather outside their villages to start their work day last year. (Mohamed Ali Eddin)

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Workers wait for trucks each day to take them to the quarries. (Mohamed Ali Eddin)

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Workers sit inside a truck, which will carry them to the quarry. often fitting 10 to 20 people inside. ( Mohamed Ali Eddin)

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Limestone quarry workers carry bags that will be filled with powdered limestone that will be sold to pharmaceutical and ceramic companies.(MOSA'AB ELSHAMY/AP)

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Limestone quarry workers filter powdered limestone at a quarry.(MOSA'AB ELSHAMY/AP)

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Bags filled with limestone powder are arranged for transport at quarry in the desert of Minya, Egypt. (AP Photo/Mosa’ab Elshamy)

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(MOSA'AB ELSHAMY/AP)

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Freshly cut limestone bricks are arranged and ready for transport.(MOSA'AB ELSHAMY/AP)

46Photo by Tabitha Ross

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(MOSA'AB ELSHAMY/AP)

48Photo by Tabitha Ross

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Photo by Tabitha Ross

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a young worker smiles at during a tea break at sunrise in the desert of Minya, southern Egypt. risking injury and sometimes death. (AP Photo/Mosa’ab Elshamy)

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Quarry workers are transported in pickup trucks after dawn from Shurafa village in southern Egypt. They are transported home at dusk.(MOSA'AB ELSHAMY/AP)

52Youths play billiards on the weekend in the quarry worker villages in Minya, Egypt.

(Mohamed Ali Eddin)

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Quarry workers relax at the end of their work day in Tehna village, Minya, southern Egypt. (AP Photo/Mosa’ab Elshamy)

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Mina Nagi injured his back and right leg in a truck accident on the way to the quarry. (Mohamed Ali Eddin)

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Ibrahem Shehata, 24, lost his right leg while working in the quarry. (Mohamed Ali Eddin)

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Sixteen-year-old Absikhron, a former quarry worker, lost his left arm in an accident involving a cutting machine in Minya. (Mohamed Ali Eddin)

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Saleh, 45, lost his left foot toe while working in the limestone quarries. There are no exact numbers of deaths and injuries in Minya’s quarries, as most of the workers are not officially registered. (Mohamed Ali Eddin)

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Baskharoon lost his left arm to a cutting machine at a stone quarry in 2013 after working for only a month without safety equipment or training. (AP Photo/Mosa’ab Elshamy)

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Girges Samuel, 25, was injured when a machine hit his back and arm. (Mohamed Ali Eddin)

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Photo by MOSA'AB ELSHAMY/AP

6/21/2015 王文堯 Kaohsiung Taiwan R.O.C All photos were taken from National Geographic,IBT, Washington Post,AP, Tabitha Ross,Internet….etc. THE END