When Andrey Kandourov started working in an illegal coal mine near the eastern Ukrainian city of Torez on Oct. 1, he wouldn’t let his mother buy him a respirator, because he thought it was too expensive. Two weeks later he was dead. The police told his family he died of a heart attack, even though another worker died in the mine with him at the same time. The family says it never received any compensation from the state social insurance fund.
Bloomberg Businessweek: Ukraine’s illegal coal mines lure desperate workers
A young worker dumps coal mined from an illegal site in the eastern Ukrainian city of Torez, Donetsk Oblast on Oct. 13, 2011.
