Bolivia, a country in South America, is known as a country where there are many silver mines. But there is another reason why it remains in discussion a lot. There is a mysterious mountain named Cerro Rico, which eats humans! Because of this, 14 women become widows here every month. Don’t be surprised, there is a reason behind this. Actually, there are about 500 years old silver mines under the Cerro Rico Mountain, in which thousands of tons of silver are hidden. At one time the Spanish rulers did a lot of mining here and looted it. It is said that two billion ounces of silver was extracted from the mountain during the Spanish colonial era.
But it was not that easy. During mining, more than 80 lakh people lost their lives after getting trapped in its tunnels. Because of this it got the name Mountain That Eats Men. Even today, more than 15,000 miners work in these mines, and many die. There are very few people working here who can live till the age of 40.
This mountain full of tunnels is a death trap for the men and boys who work there. Because due to continuous mining there have been thousands of holes in the mountain. Because of this, there is now a serious danger of the entire mountain collapsing. During mining, so much dust comes inside that even the lungs of the workers get filled. For this reason their death also happens quickly.
People even pray to the devil here to save themselves from death. They also make offerings of coca leaves along with alcohol and cigarettes to El Tio, the evil god of the mines. There is also a statue of El Tio in each tunnel. Every Friday people gather here to make offerings and sing praises of the horned deity.
Most of the deaths here occur due to silicosis. Workers ingest dust, it gets into their lungs and attacks the immune system. Once inside the lungs the dust settles and causes lesions on the lung tissue with chronic bronchitis like symptoms, fever, chest pain, weight loss, weakness and ultimately death. The workers working here chew coca leaves. It is said that it helps in filtering dust.
Today, mines do not produce silver in the same quantities as they did in the 18th century. Still, mining is in full swing here. Below the mountain, there is a city named Potosi, which is counted among the highest cities in the world. Thousands of people live here, but most of them work in the tunnels built in the Cerro Rico mountain.
