India is currently the world's third-largest energy consumer. A significant proportion of the production for internal energy needs comes from Jharia coal mines in Jharkhand state. Underground fires have been burning for more than a century. But in recent decades open-cast mining has also brought the flames to the surface with devastating consequences for the population. The land is extremely susceptible to subsidence, putting at risk the lives of the inhabitants, who get injured or even die after being sucked into flaming sinkholes in the ground.
Stefano Schirato was born in Bologna, Italy in 1974, where he graduated in Political Sciences.
He has been working as a freelance photographer with a keen focus on social themes for more than 15 years.
He collaborates with several magazines, associations and NGOs such as Emergency, Caritas Internationalis, ICMC, for which he has partecipated in projects on human rights, refugee crisis and illegal immigration.
His work has been published on The New York Times, CNN, Newsweek Japan, Al Jazeera, Vanity Fair, Le Figaro, Geo International, Burnmagazine.
