Photos

This was taken inside the crater at Ijen, where local men collect sulfur from the volcanic vents at the side of the lake. The yellow gas is composed of steam and various sulfur compounds including sulfuric acid, hydrogen sulfide, and sulfur dioxide. The workers try to avoid the gas, but the wind shifts unpredictably and sometimes they get caught in it as happened here. Exposure can be quite painful, and occasionally lethal. This man has stuffed a bit of his shirt in his mouth to try to filter out some of the gas.

After collecting the recently molten sulfur, these men load 60-90 kilos (130-200 pounds)on their backs and ascend about eight hundred feet up steep trails to the crater rim, then descend another 2500 or so to return to their camp. Most do this twice a day; they have physiques like Bruce Lee and are enourmously strong. They are paid by the kilo, and most average the equivalent of about five dollars a day.