Deadliest journeys - Bangladesh : Survive in chaos

[Applause] [Music] [Music] hey [Music] [Music] cocoon goes through this daily ritual in the early morning seven days a week look after my rickshaw it's my work tool if it's not properly maintained i'm a bad worker it's what feeds me his old rickshaw weighs 90 kilos but according to cocon riding it isn't the most tiring aspect [Music] getting around the streets of dakar the capital means the rickshaw driver needs nerves of steel yeah move along a bit you need a sharp brain to react quickly you must take one step ahead to avoid accidents [Music] be careful crossing the city is not the easiest for passengers either 15 million people live here 43 000 inhabitants per square kilometer the heaviest concentration of humanity on the planet look there's a traffic jam down there i'm going to take a detour to get by and daca you must never ever let yourself get stuck or you'll suffer the consequences immediately the capitals become too small for its population the street can no longer handle the volume of traffic it's not unusual to be stuck between four and six hours bumper to bumper kokon and his clients soon find themselves trapped [Music] in a rickshaw you know when you leave but you'll never know when you'll arrive most of the time i leave hours in advance to avoid arriving late for work you never know what you'll come across big traffic jam or even a small one how can you live like this without ever being sure come on get out of my way [Music] spends five hours a day seven days a week on his rickshaw without protest he cannot afford to complain he pedals for three euros a day it's enough to survive on this is the worst job in the world transporting passengers in their baggage by cycling it's work that animals should be doing his troubles are by no means over in a few days a massive wave of six million people will descend on dakar and invade the streets of the city every year the capital bangladesh plays host to ichima the largest muslim pilgrimage in the world after mecca but the country's infrastructure is very run down and not able to properly handle the millions of pilgrims the trains are taken by storm move come on get out of it [Music] the greatest risk comes from when we go under bridges you have to be really careful bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in the world one child in eight is forced to work to help his family you need to be cunning to earn a potato crafty to catch a fish and be ready to suffer to find some gold far from the chaos of dhaka a handful of men are preparing for a difficult journey is accompanying his congregation on the ijima pilgrimage [Music] 90 of the country is muslim and a train has been especially hired for the event it's the final moments of calm before the chaos begins food supplies pots pans blankets the group has enough to keep them going for five days one hour before departure safe the imam checks that nothing has been forgotten take care you need to tighten that up properly we need to bring everything with us for the ichima pilgrimage water oil and fruit [Applause] everything that we can it's almost many have saved each penny for two or three months let's bring what's left on board especially for those that won't have a seat can smile he reserved their places months earlier as for the rest it's a matter of first carbon first served move along this is my place no this looks good i think there will be plenty of people this year well you'll just have to sit wherever you can find a place is this the train for the pilgrimage is this the one hundreds of people have crowded onto the platform it's a race for the last seats available and to get one it's each man for himself for some that means six hours despite the crush the joy of being part of the pilgrimage lifts everyone's spirits and have a great pilgrimage to everybody's surprise the train leaves on time which catches some underwear [Music] 200 kilometers away but in bangladesh no one can guarantee what time the train will arrive as the journey holds plenty of surprises oh that's a good start [Music] the train stops at about 15 stations but that's not including any unexpected stops [Music] imam is praying with doha a member of his community it's doha's third pilgrimage well now it's fine we're at the start of the trip and there's still some places but the further we go the more people there will be and the even rich people give up because of the [Music] difficulties [Music] the trains are uncomfortable and drafty and date from the british colonial period they've hardly been modernized since these trains have been used since 1917. of course the country has developed there used to be steam engines and then diesel locomotives like this one but the carriages have not changed at all one day they announced that we would have new more modern express trains the people went mad with joy everyone said we'd be able to get to our destinations far more quickly it'll be fantastic the seats will be much more comfortable but when we saw the new trains we were so disappointed they're as bad as they ever were except now they're even more expensive [Music] it's best to approach your own food for the journey as getting to the restaurant car is quite a challenge tormented by hunger doha decides to try it [Music] move your leg please oh what a mess see what we have to go through excuse me nobody complains though because going by road in bangladesh is far more dangerous [Music] sometimes people even sit in the toilets if you need to urinate you just have to dirty your clothes the unexpected stop provides doha with some relief [Applause] this is good as i don't want to go to the restaurant car anymore there's no way through right i'm going back to my seat the thousands of pilgrims however are a godsend to the young sellers of vegetable snacks waiting on the platform most are orphans and some have been working from as young as five years old hot samosas five tacos [Music] my mother's dead i have two young brothers and a sister the tide of passengers is unending and getting on board a carriage is now almost impossible the over spill finds its way onto the carriage roofs [Music] the roof is barely two meters wide and slightly rounded not to mention the slippery wove behind those who doze off as the jolting of the train can hold them over the side [Music] well usually you're not allowed to climb on the roof we do it as there's no more room below the greatest danger is going under bridges you have to be very careful get down get down my wife died a few days ago she wasn't paying attention and was hit by a bridge she was killed outright just how many passengers are killed every year is unknown but even the most experienced can be caught by surprise sit down the young salesmen earn a living by risking their own lives every day arsham has been dodging death since the age of 10. i'm not an amateur i hang on tight the first time i climbed on top i was petrified i couldn't get down and i cried a man came and carried me on his shoulders and from then on i practiced getting on and off now i've taken to the roof like a fish to water [Music] [Music] if you stop to think you're dead you mustn't think of your parents or wife who'll cry if you're killed if fear wins then you're dead i lived over there so i need to go now bye he leaps off the train which is going at about 30 kilometers an hour [Music] there's still a long way to go although no one's quite sure when the train will arrive in the capital in dhaka the life expectancy of rickshaw drivers and others who pull carts through the streets seldom extends beyond 40 years of age accidents pollution and physical wear and tear take a heavy toll after three hours cocon can pedal no longer he rests at the back of the rickshaw garage for free in exchange for some basic guard duties [Music] i have a wife and two children to feed of course this work is very difficult it's still better than having to force this sort of misery on my family poor people like me who live with their family are suffering very much misery leads to family ruin come i'll show you the slums then you'll understand [Music] [Music] oh i'd rather not live with my family those that earn enough can afford a home for their families the others live like rats i refuse to make my family suffer through that like i said sacrifices means his two children can attend school they're lucky as education really comes from the slums it's resourcefulness that has to be found at an early age [Music] this small band has become skilled at stealing vegetables from the market three and a half million people are crammed into dhaka's numerous shanty towns in his slave-like existence cocoon allows himself the small luxury of telephoning his family in their village he sees them just once every two months give me the phone please [Music] how are you and the kids i'll be home in a few days friday or saturday as soon as my daughter's old enough to marry i'll give up the rickshaw i'll open a small shop otherwise my daughter's life will be ruined no one wants a rickshaw driver as a father-in-law it's too miserable it's embarrassing and in the meanwhile in order to pay for my daughter's dairy i have to keep peddling without a dowry kokon has no hope of marrying off his daughter especially as traditionally it's paid in gold the goldsmith's neighborhood is tanti bazaar in the old part of dakar not much has changed here since the 18th century three thousand people work here melting and fashioning gold [Music] the workshops close when the muetzin makes the day's last call to prayers three shadows slip discreetly through the streets of the gold district at about nine in the evening once a month gazi and his two employees searched through the sewers these are the waste waters from the goldsmiths the workshops are just behind and their pipes empty out here thousands of litres of human waste end up down the opening to the sewer when they work the gold there's always some dust that flies off and when they go to the toilet it goes down into the sewers now if we can collect that gold dust it will earn a spin off to eat [Applause] should we empty all the water of course it's a process that will take all night if we worked in the day people would complain because of the smells smell doesn't bother me anymore gold has to be earned and to find it means diving down specks of gold are mixed with human excrement now i'll squash down all the mud in one pile below my feet and once it's packed together i'll put it in the bucket for the first few years shahalan felt nauseous but now no longer even complains [Music] i do this because it's with a crisis however less gold jewelry is being produced and there's far less gold dust in the sewers in the past there were more of us prospectors there were at least 150 people but with less money to be made they've given up nowadays there's maybe about 50 of us [Music] here the water's cold this time of year first rinse off in in freezing water and then finish my work and then take a hot shower ten hours work to fill two buckets with mud which then needs to be sifted [Music] now i'm filtering this to remove any lighters all that'll be left is the heavier substances gazi has been a gold hunter for 30 years he first plunged into the sewers at age 14. [Applause] i learned from the experts i didn't like it at the start digging around in all this [ __ ] i thought it was dirty it upset me but they slowly persuaded me and after a few months my shame disappeared mike got used to this one and uh i still can't see any gold but i feel there is some there's one more stage it's a delicate operation and it's uncertain if there'll be enough gold to pay all three of them [Applause] [Music] four hours and a dozen stops into the journey the train which is transporting safik the imam and his pilgrims is making slow progress towards dakar the old locomotive doesn't date back to colonial times like the carriages but it's hardly modern either muhammad the driver is focused in bangladesh the railways aren't protected and people have the habit of using them as a road look at those people on the rails they can cause accidents i'm blowing the horn to make them move off despite the crowds mohammed pushes the old diesel engine to the limit and the monster manages 60 kilometers an hour almost blindly i can't and they used to be windscreen wipers [Music] and a speedometer would be good too but we don't have one and an emergency break would be helpful but we don't have that either [Music] if someone crosses in front what can i do if i suddenly break the carriages will tip over and thousands will die not one accident in a 30-year career nevertheless danger is never far away on the train for some it's even exciting fearless street kids have even made it their playground they call themselves the train kings we're nothing else to do today we fall around being stupid my parents don't want me to climb on top of the train saying i should look for a job selling tea instead but i don't want to up here we're free but we know that if we fall off no one will look after us that's just how it is if i fall the dogs will eat me next to the track yeah you'll end up as dog food all right [Music] in dhaka ghazi the gold prospector will finally find out how many grams of precious metal is recovered from the bottom of the [Music] sewers of all the mud collected overnight only a handful remains like an alchemist ghazi uses a powerful acid to extract the gold the fumes from the acid affect their lungs and attacks the skin and eyes but they don't seem to realize it it's very bad for the lungs it can give you asthma to separate the gold from the mud gazi uses mercury a very toxic substance the gold stuck to the mercury now heated to 400 degrees centigrade the metal gives off toxic vapors worse than acid it attacks the workers kidneys and brains once evaporated what remains is a pure gold nugget there's less than a gram here down up there it should fetch 15 euros possible 15 euros a poultry sum extracted from the bottom of the sewers of dhaka i'm really going to talk i should have stopped i made the wrong choice and it saddens me the goal cycle is endless the three men will sell the gold back to the shop from which it escaped i squashed it to make sure it was pure gold or not base metal no wait how much will you give me we'll divide it between the three of us euros four less than he'd hoped for [Music] after a night down the sewers gazi's work day is far from finished when he returns to the room where he lives with his wife and three children the tiny home becomes a workshop [Music] we do this every night with my wife and children we work until 11 at night we make 400 of them for the equivalent of 2 [Music] if my euros had been able to have a better education he might have been able to open a grocery store or some kind of shop that's why we sacrifice everything to educate our children my husband and i are uncultured but i dream that nobody will be able to say the same of our children and that they're never ashamed like we are [Music] many children don't go to school i'm very lucky my parents send me my dream is to become a businessman i'll travel abroad and bring my parents with me it's different in other countries it's beautiful [Music] there wasn't enough money for her sister to continue school she now works with her parents to be able to pay for her younger brothers [Music] dakar is not far away now for the pilgrims at every stop the train is literally assaulted the station master is overwhelmed all those without tickets needs to buy one as quickly as possible either at the ticket office or from the inspectors controlling such large numbers is impossible and the only practical measure is to prevent accidents all those on the roof please remain seated [Music] move up there's still room as soon as the train arrives [Applause] get out of the way it's risky climbing up here and you're pushing us to take our places move on i'm here now i'm not moving well but he's taking my friend's place some know how to make hard cash from all this chaos a few smart operators rent out their ladders 20 attackers to climb up for six people thirty takers [Music] [Applause] the cops are here let's go [Applause] quick go away [Music] [Applause] you'd think it was chaos but really people are disciplined look around water water [Applause] i'll try and go as far as i can hanging on like this i'll leave it up to allah hang on [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] hey [Music] go make some room for me please far from this confusion there are those struggling to maintain an honorable life and stop their children ending up in the slums this is the sunderbahn in the south of the country where the river ganges flows into the gulf of bengal it's the largest mangrove forest in the world at low tide the silence is broken by some strange cries [Applause] they're made by these tame otters they're not pets but working animals [Music] it's a lot easier to fish with them [Music] they dive down to the roots you see they drive the fish into the nets using otters to fish goes back many centuries like his forefathers kumar trained his four animals himself we live with them so we understand each other [Music] [Music] i need to move a lot so that they work properly but the nets draw in few fish every passing year there are less fish in the waters of the mangrove pollution and overpopulation are the main causes with 160 million inhabitants bangladesh is one of the world's most densely populated nations fishing is exhausting yet kumar pushes his men and animals to the limit there are more fish at the end of low tide and then it's a real race unfortunately for the fishermen there's no miraculous catch come on it's finished now and so on and so forth the voraciousness of the otters is a problem for the fishermen the four of them devour between three and five kilos of fish a day it's almost half the catch [Music] sometimes if we don't find enough fish we need to buy some for the otters if we don't feed them they get weak and won't fish anymore so we go to the market and buy fish we lose money [Music] okay can i light up the stove tonight kumar and his men will not eat as well as the otters we're eight and we'll share two fish and they're not big ones either this tough uncomfortable life is not one they think their children will want to follow they're almost certainly the last otter fishermen of bangladesh the horn blasts finally announced the arrival in dakar a relief for some agony for others you have to block your ears the whole time these foghorns can make you deaf [Music] some pilgrims spent all eight hours of the journey standing others squeezed on top of others even the lucky ones such as safik and doha are at the end of their tether i'm exhausted very tired but i'm happy because we're close to dagger this hard journey will soon be over [Music] foreign [Music] get the baggage hurry up [Music] the hardest thing now for the imam is not to lose his congregation in the crowds go that way and follow the crowd a tide of humanity millions of people converge on the prayer sites [Applause] [Music] safiq and his group will camp out and pray and meditate for three days [Applause] the location is not a holy islamic site but every year scholars from around the world come to spread the good word for the six million muslim faithful following these teachings gives a sense to their lives in bangladesh a life often made up of [Music] [Applause] [Music] sacrifice you

Channel: Best Documentary

Views: 147,671

Rating: 4.7761412 out of 5

Keywords: documentaire, reportage, Aventure, Routes, pays, peuple, planète, dicton, vie, surpopulation, dimension, inhumaine, volontairement, égout, excrément, humain, or, blessure, produit chimique, condamner, nourrir, famille, échapper, destin, misère, absurde, infernale, religion, pèlerinage musulman, pèlerin, bus, bateaux, train, voyageur, toit, essieux, fenêtre, débordement, foule, ingérable, infrastructure, obsolète, abnégation, Bangladais, déjouer, Piège, sourire, rickshaw

Id: NZdDeffKnJA

Length: 50min 49sec (3049 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 12 2021