Employed by private contractors, a team of four workers can dig about a ton of coal a day, for which they earn around six pounds to be split between them.
Miners pose for a photograph at the coal face inside a mine in Choa Saidanshah, Punjab province, Pakistan(Sara Farid / Reuters)
Although Pakistan has introduced legislation to deal with child labour, the problem is deeply entrenched in society. Nearly 60% of Pakistan's working children are in Punjab province. Children often inherit huge, unpayable debts and are forced to work as bonded labourers. Children working in mines can be vulnerable to dangers such as sexual abuse by older miners.
The donkeys make around 20 trips per day carrying sacks weighing about 20kg each. The work is dangerous with the constant risk of cave-ins. The miners say they do what they can to care for the animals, with their limited resources, but the difficult conditions mean the donkeys' life expectancy is 12-13 years (compared with 30 to 50 years in more prosperous countries).
Samiullah, who says he is 14 years old, breaks coal underground in the mine
A miner and a donkey make their way through the low, narrow tunnel leading out of the coal mine
A miner unloads coal from the donkeys
A young miner rushes his donkeys back into the coal mine
A young miner leads his team of donkeys back to the coal face underground
Mohammad Ismail, 25, uses a pickaxe underground in the coal mine
A miner wipes sweat from his forehead inside the coal mine
Miners take a break to drink water inside the coal mine
A miner pats his donkey at a coal mine in Choa Saidan Shah
Tears stained with coal dust run down a donkey's face as it looks out of its stable at the mine
wonderful pictures on the hardesr work in the world. i seem to see miners at the beginning of coal in Europ in XIX th century
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