TUESDAY November 29, 2022: 'LOST YOUTH: Afghan Child Miners' by award winning DPA photographer Oliver Weiken: Afghanistan has been gripped by a devastating economic crisis that has wiped out incomes, sent food prices soaring and left millions hungry. For families struggling simply to put food on the table the growing economic hardship is pushing more and more children into work. Thousands flocked to northern Afghanistan's notoriously dangerous mines after the Taliban seized power last year, desperate to scrape out a living amid an economy in ruins. From men in their 60s to boys as young as 10, hundreds of miners work every day in Chinarak for just a few dollars. Welcome to: 'LOST YOUTH Afghan Child Miners'
© zReportage.com Story of the Week #865: TUESDAY November 29, 2022: 'LOST YOUTH: Afghan Child Miners' by award winning DPA photographer Oliver Weiken: Afghanistan has been gripped by a devastating economic crisis that has wiped out incomes, sent food prices soaring and left millions hungry. For families struggling simply to put food on the table the growing economic hardship is pushing more and more children into work. Thousands flocked to northern Afghanistan's notoriously dangerous mines after the Taliban seized power last year, desperate to scrape out a living amid an economy in ruins. From men in their 60s to boys as young as 10, hundreds of miners work every day in Chinarak for just a few dollars. Welcome to: 'LOST YOUTH Afghan Child Miners'

Covered in black coal dust men and boys wearing headlights in the dark mine shaft, take a break from work deep in a Chinarak coal mine in Afghanistan's Baghlan Province. From men in their 60s to boys as young as 10, hundreds of miners work every day in Chinarak for just a few dollars.
© Oliver Weiken/dpa via ZUMA Press

A boy who works as a miner stands outside an informal coal mine in Chinarak in Afghanistan's Baghlan Province. From men in their 60s to boys as young as ten, hundreds of miners work every day in the mines of Chinarak, for just a few dollars daily wages. The labor is not only backbreaking but also potentially deadly as collapsing mine shafts are a regular occurrence.
© Oliver Weiken/dpa via ZUMA Press

A boy who works as a miner leads donkeys laden with coal from an informal coal mine in Chinarak in Afghanistan's Baghlan Province to a collection point at the base of the mountain. From men in their 60s to boys as young as ten, hundreds of miners work every day in the mines of Chinarak, which bore several hundred meters in the mountain, for just a few Euros daily wages. The labour is not only backbreaking but also potentially deadly as collapsing mine shafts are a regular occurrence.
© Oliver Weiken/dpa via ZUMA Press

A miner unloads donkeys laden with coal from an informal coal mine in Chinarak in Afghanistan's Baghlan Province at a collection point at the base of the mountain. Safety standards are non existent, In February, a coal mine collapsed in the northern province of Baghlan, leaving at least ten people dead.
© Oliver Weiken/dpa via ZUMA Press

Miners black with coal dust, load donkeys with coal from a mine in Chinarak before leading them to a collection point at the base of the mountain. As the Taliban government steps up its coal exports to resuscitate a shattered economy, miners are working harder than ever.
© Oliver Weiken/dpa via ZUMA Press

Miners covered in black coal dust, load donkeys with coal from an informal coal mine in Chinarak in Afghanistan's Baghlan Province before leading them to a collection point at the base of the mountain.
© Oliver Weiken/dpa via ZUMA Press

A boy working as a coal miner takes a break and leans on a donkey at the entrance coal mine. The number of children working the mines has reportedly increased as the economic crisis forces them out of school.
© Oliver Weiken/dpa via ZUMA Press

A boy who works in the coal mines of Chinarak is attended by another miner after he was injured by a falling rock. The labour is not only backbreaking but also potentially deadly as collapsing mine shafts are a regular occurrence. Afghanistan has been ramping up its production of coal. Mining for that coal is dangerous and sometimes deadly and kids often do much of the work.
© Oliver Weiken/dpa via ZUMA Press

Miners lead their donkeys laden with coal from a coal mine in Chinarak to a collection point at the base of the mountain. The country is increasingly reliant on the export of coal, a non-renewable fossil fuel that is considered the dirtiest, most polluting way of producing energy.
© Oliver Weiken/dpa via ZUMA Press

A boy who works as a miner leads a donkey laden with coal from an informal coal mine in Chinarak in Afghanistan's Baghlan Province to a collection point at the base of the mountain. As the Taliban government steps up its coal exports to resuscitate a shattered economy, miners are working harder than ever and it's often kids who do some of the toughest work.
© Oliver Weiken/dpa via ZUMA Press

A boy who works as a miner unloads donkeys laden with coal from an informal coal mine in Chinarak in Afghanistan's Baghlan Province at a collection point at the base of the mountain. Coal mining is a dangerous job and in Afghanistan, kids often do much of the work.
© Oliver Weiken/dpa via ZUMA Press

OMID, who works as a miner and is not sure if he is ten or twelve years old, sits in a dark mine shaft in Chinarak. He spends up to six hours a day here, with only one day off a week. He would like to finish school. For some children, working in the mines means the end of their schooling and with it the prospect of a better-paid job. 'I don't have time to study,' Omid says. Partly because his home is so far away, he says. 'When I finish work, I have to walk another hour home with my donkey.'
© Oliver Weiken/dpa via ZUMA Press