Incredible Photos from a Sulfur-Mining Expedition in Java

There are a few places on Earth where elemental sulfur is so abundant that it’s economical to mine it: One of them is the Ijen volcano complex in East Java, Indonesia. Russian photographer Dmitry Ivanov was allowed to tag along on a sulfur-mining expedition through Ijen’s central crater, and the photos he gathered are nothing short of incredible.

From Ivanov’s photo-essay (Google Translated from the Russian):

One of the most colorful, exciting and scary at the same time places on Java – the volcano crater Idzhen. There, in the suffocating smoke from the volcanic gases and vapors of boiling sulfur near the lake, filled with a mixture of hydrochloric and sulfuric acids, operate simple Indonesian men. They discourage scrap pieces of sulfur, lay them on the basket, and then pick up this 100-pound weight on their shoulders to the crest of the crater and are down to the reception center.

I do not know how to remove the harsh and squeeze a tear reportazhku, I have more tales are obtained.

But it will be scary story. For work in the crater Idzhen, in my opinion, one of the hardest work on earth, a truly hellish work.

See the full galleries in hi-res on Ivanov’s LiveJournal.

(via Dmitry Ivanov – Parts I and II. h/t Fark)