In the limestone quarries of Minya province south of Cairo, labourers in sandals and makeshift masks use unsheathed rotor blades to gouge the white, fossil-rich rock into house bricks. The workers in the snow-white landscape - farmers and university graduates among them - plan to strike next month. They make between $10 and $16 a day and suffer from scant safety measures and a lack of social and medical insurance despite some having lost arms, legs or fingers in accidents. With double-digit unemployment in a nation battered by political and economic turmoil since a 2011 uprising, the quarries attract men unable to find work elsewhere.
A worker stacks bricks of limestone at a quarry in the desert of Minya governorate, south of Cairo, Egypt. (Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)
A worker walks nearby a rotor blade used to cut through limestone at a quarry in the desert of Minya governorate, south of Cairo, Egypt. (Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)
A worker uses a machine with rotor blades to cut through limestone. (Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)
A worker drinks water during his shift at a quarry in the desert of Minya governorate, south of Cairo, Egypt. (Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)
A masked worker covers his face from dust. (Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)
Workers extract limestone at a quarry in the desert of Minya governorate, south of Cairo, Egypt. (Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)
The workers in the snow-white landscape - farmers and university graduates among them - plan to strike next month. (Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)
A masked worker protects his face from the dust. (Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)
Fuel is spilled on the ground as a worker uses a machine with a rotor blade to cut through limestone. (Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)
A worker walks past newly cut bricks of limestone. (Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)