Eastern Ukraine has troubles enough as the home of an ongoing conflict between Russian separatists and the Ukrainian government. Dangers from working in coal mines also loom heavily over the eastern edges of the country.
"It's a job from hell," says a young man in this video whose father was killed while working in a mine.
Ukraine holds one of the largest coal reserves in the world. Earlier in the 20th century, it was a source of pride for the Soviet Union and Ukraine's coal country was considered the heart of Russia.
These days the attention is typically on the precarious working conditions. Because so much of the coal has already been extracted, miners now have to venture deeper for less. To make matters worse, many work for the promise of pay, rather than a reliable paycheck. And the work kills so many workers in Ukraine each year — about 300 on average — that there's a cemetery just for the miners. Just a few weeks ago about 33 miners were killed because of a blast caused by methane gas.
Crawl inside a Ukrainian mine and get an up-close look at what it's like to work in one in this video by Bloomberg Business.
