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PHOTO ESSAY: Life behind the mesmerizing blue fire of Kawah Ijen in Indonesia
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Indonesia is one of the largest archipelagos in the world. As it is located in the Pacific Ring of Fire, the country has numerous active yet beautiful volcanoes waiting to be explored. And one of these is the Kawah Ijen.
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Kawah Ijen’s beauty is indeed exceptional, being the highest volcano in Indonesia. It also has a crater lake known as the largest acid lake in the world. Despite its breathtaking beauty, the Kawah Ijen volcano lake continues to spew out sulphur and other toxic smoke that is dangerous to locals residing near the volcano.
Around 200 men are surrounded by the toxic smoke from a lake-filled with acid. The toxic air is composed of hydrogen sulphide and sulphur dioxide gases that can burn the eyes, throat and eventually dissolve a a person's teeth. During the trek, Kara David almost feared for her life because the smoke had already blocked their way. She even found it difficult to breathe because of the fumes surrounding them. “Habang pataas nang pataas, pasikip din nang pasikip ang iyong paghinga. Humahalo sa hangin ang nakakasulasok na usok ng asupre,” she said.
The presence of sulphur is both a blessing and a curse for the locals. During Kara’s exploration, she met one of the 200 miners who regularly climb the Kawah Ijen for sulphur. The oldest in the group is Unaini, a 65-year-old miner who depends most of his family’s needs on the sulphur that he can garner from the said volcano. Despite old age, Unaini doesn’t mind the everyday risks that await him as he climbs the volcano.
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There are several holes around the surface of the volcano. These holes naturally exude sulphur smoke. The mining company in Indonesia uses various ceramic pipes smoke into molten sulphur. Aside from the molten sulphur, these miners need to carry these baskets of hardened yellow sulphur weighing 30 to 80 kg around 10 times a day. The men only wear masks and shirts over for protection. The question is, how they would be able to carry all of these without any gear to protect them from the hazards of smoke?
Unaini has been working as a miner for four decades. This has been his source of income to support his family. Mislani, who is the eldest son of Unaini, also works as a miner to help his father in providing the necessities of the whole family. At age of 14, he started carrying sulphuric rocks to help his father and now that he is 29, sulphur mining has now become his livelihood as well.
During the whole exploration. the team joined Unaini and Mislani as they looked for sulphuric rocks. As Kara climbed the volcano, they saw a strange blue fire from the other side of the volcano. The blue fire was indeed mesmerizing but, the team couldn’t deny the fact that behind its beauty are hundreds of miners risking their lives for sulphur. As time went by, the smoke became thicker which made it harder for Kara’s team to see what was happening around them. But, for miners like Mislani, he was not afraid of what would happen to him as they entered and eventually disappeared through the smoke.
Unaini and Mislani shared that they are already exhausted with the kind of work that they have. However, it’s their family that always pushes them to work hard. When Mislani was asked about his dreams, he immediately answered, “Wala na akong pinapangarap para sa aking sarili. Kung may pinapangarap ako para na lang sa aking mga anak. Gusto ko silang makapagtapos ng pag-aaral.”
For Kara, climbing Kawah Ijen is her most difficult climb yet, “Ito na marahil ang pinakamahirap na bundok na tinahak ng aming team. Hindi dahil sa tarik, hindi dahil sa lamig kundi dahil sa impyerno ng usok na bumabalot sa amin. Pero, dito rin namin nakita ang ilan sa pinakamatatag na ama na aming nakilala.”—Khrystyne Villan/BMS, GMA Public Affairs
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