Gallery: The Russian Town Where Startling Pollution Is a Way of Life
Pierpaolo Mittica01Karabash-09
Karabash resident Tatiana explains the impossibility of breathing when the copper smelting plant is operating.
Pierpaolo Mittica02Karabash-20
A mountain of slag divides the city in two.
Pierpaolo Mittica03Karabash-11
Children playing in the town's abandoned buildings.
Pierpaolo Mittica04Karabash-04
Chemical spills from the plant.
Pierpaolo Mittica05Karabash-19
The hazardous mine was shut down in the 1980s, but was reopened again in 1998 due to the number of unemployed townspeople.
Pierpaolo Mittica06Karabash-06
Part of a nearby forest completely burned by chemical poisoning.
Pierpaolo Mittica07Karabash-07
The river Sak-Elga, where the smelting copper plant dumps its waste.
Pierpaolo Mittica08Karabash-15
A woman returns home from her shift at the plant.
Pierpaolo Mittica09Karabash-05
Chemical spills have been linked to many health problems with the local townspeople, including birth defects.
Pierpaolo Mittica10Karabash-01
The copper plant looms in the distance while toxic waste festers not far away.
Pierpaolo Mittica11Karabash-12
Parts of the city near the plant have been evacuated, but there are some who still live there.
Pierpaolo Mittica12Karabash-17
A look inside the copper smelting plant.
Pierpaolo Mittica13Karabash-10
An abandoned cinema in an evacuated neighborhood downwind of the plant.
Pierpaolo Mittica14Karabash-02
Forests, rivers and the soil all have an orange tint because of the residues from the processing of copper and iron.
