Deadliest Roads | India/Bangladesh: The Traps of the Brahmaputra | Free Documentary

[Music] hey [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] from the sky this river shows off its immense power as the offspring of the god named brahma the river is a capricious giant holding the power of life and death over the millions of people along its course in india and bangladesh the floods of the brahmaputra river are as destructive as they are necessary for fertilizing the soil the river god originates in the himalayas where rapids and rocks prevent any navigation travelers have no choice but to take the parallel roads in india in the foothills of the himalayas raj kumar is one of the few taxis that dare to challenge the mountains this route is far from comforting foreign [Music] as well as the precipitous cliff edges there is danger that comes from above the mountain walls have been weakened by the monsoon and are unstable this section is perhaps the most dangerous part of the route above the road a kilometer high section of the mountain is bare without a single route to hold the stones in place raj kumar tries to pass this section as quickly as possible [Music] a truck arrives from the opposite direction but the road is only one lane wide now everyone is caught under a rain of falling rocks [Applause] [Music] the driver tries to take cover like this panicked traveller who abandoned their car uh [Music] raj kumar and his passengers end the journey under a meteor shower to follow the river god and navigate along its waters is an act that requires a great deal of courage the brahmaputra stretches 2 900 kilometers across china india and bangladesh 100 million people depend on its waters [Music] in india the river meanders through lost valleys and the roads that venture into these valleys are formidable provisioning the villages is just as perilous along the brahmaputra river the nerves of these indian drivers are truly put to the test [Applause] in bangladesh the river is often the only means of transporting people and animals [Music] taking a ferry is just as nerve-wracking as the source of life the brahmaputra and its tributaries are exploited shamelessly [Applause] in india as in bangladesh the overpopulation is so great that a man costs much less than a machine from india to bangladesh the brahmaputra is far from being a long tranquil river [Music] on the outer reaches of india the profession of truck driver takes on an entirely new dimension there is the taste of adventure the feeling of blazing a new trail each time they pass through here so hostile is the road arjun asked the god of travellers to offer him for once a smooth journey [Applause] [Music] [Applause] ganesh is not his only protection in case of an accident arjun can rely on his two friends deepak and shanu [Music] the three truckers never drive alone on the route to tu ting near the chinese border the 350 kilometers of mountains at the source of the brahmaputra at the foot of the himalayas in the closest proximity to danger [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] especially when driving in their old [Music] trucks the conveyors are transporting construction material the most dangerous load is in shannon's truck 50 barrels of asphalt 75 kilos each are wobbling in the back of the truck when they rock too much the driver stops so that they can stabilize otherwise there could be an accident [Music] one of the parts of the route that shannon and his travel partners dread the most is crossing the old suspended bridge uh foreign they mustn't let the barrels of asphalt rock the truck which would cause the old bridge to sway the structure might not be able to withstand too much movement this time it held fast but for how much longer remains to be seen in some places the route is paved despite the loose stones it's a godsend for the conveyors so they can drive faster the three men are only paid when the goods are delivered regardless of how many days they spend on the road [Music] it's just that smooth journeys here are extremely rare [Music] oh [Applause] a belt is about to give out it's falling apart with age worn down with each acceleration even if they've just lost an hour the drivers have done well tomorrow a different story awaits the last 160 kilometers which require at least two days of travel when everything goes smoothly in the mountains the brahmaputra river cannot be taken by boat but as soon as it reaches the plains it becomes navigable for nearly 1 300 kilometers this is a kind of river highway used every year by thousands of bangladeshi herders all of them prefer travel by boat as it's faster and safer than by truck well [Music] almost [Music] foreign in a few days it will be the feast of eid al kabir this celebration muslim families buy a cow to sacrifice they head off to the markets on his floating cattle carrier manic loads about 30 cows weighing 500 kilos again [Applause] [Music] manic heads for a richer market about 30 kilometers downstream from the brahmaputra river he'll therefore be sailing with the current however this part of the river remains unpredictable the sandbanks constantly move around creating traps where manic does not expect them the other danger comes from the cows they can't stand the swaying of the boat foreign becoming a breeder was his life's dream gilga saved for 25 years before he could afford two cows a few years later they had calves and he's proud to have raised his family out of poverty [Music] market is in sight here thousands of animals will change hands in just a few hours [Music] girga has seven cows for sale but that day he nearly didn't make a dime the animals are restless and becoming out of control foreign above all it requires patience the buyers have all the power they have ample choice so prices are not on the rise foreign and the buyers are playing hardball this man's cow broke its leg when it got off the boat three traders are trying to negotiate the price down 350 euros for a cow worth 700. the man has lost the equivalent of five months of salary in bangladesh a farmer earns only three euros a day on average [Music] at the end of the day gilga is also somewhat disillusioned his dreams vanish tomorrow the farmer will take his cows to a new market hoping to have better luck [Music] on the indian side of the brahmaputra river arjun deepak and shanu are attacking their second day on the road in the mountains they still have 160 kilometers to go to reach the town of tutin the three friends begin the riskiest part of the journey [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] the trucks don't go faster than 15 kilometers an hour and they're better off that way a week ago the road here collapsed this section has only just reopened arjun is the first to pass and a mistake of just a few centimeters would send him over the edge of the cliff chanu who has the heaviest truck is not very confident but deepak even less so [Applause] [Music] after all the stress on the road the drivers take a break to release their tension and especially to cool down as it's 35 degrees the heat is stifling [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Music] each kilometer gained is a small victory even if the road that remains is still long and full of dangers [Music] in the brahmaputra valley not everyone depends on the road even if some villages are located in extremely isolated places this suspended footbridge is the only connection between the addis tribe and civilization the members of the tribe take the bridge when they go to barter along the road [Music] the addis are almost completely self-sufficient the only products they buy from time to time are sugar tea salt and some clothes [Music] the alice and the little money they do have at the top of this mountain more than an hour's walk away cayenne and some climb up the mountain every day to collect a small seed that is worth its weight in gold and they earn every penny as this forest is filled with some not so friendly bugs foreign foreign this treasure is worth braving a few leeches cardamom is a much sought after spice its seeds may flavor many dishes but harvesting it is no easy task [Music] foreign the sloping terrain makes the work even harder but the village did not hesitate to cut down its orange trees in order to plant cardamom after saffron and vanilla it's the third most expensive spice on the planet [Applause] each family earns about 300 euros a year while it's not much it's more than enough to live in the brahmaputra valley however their paradise could soon disappear the village is situated at a point on this river which is attracting interest despite their opposition to the project the addis tribe are unlikely to win their cause 150 dams are planned in the region india needs the electricity to sustain its growth [Music] today its population has reached 1.3 billion people in a few years the country will overtake china in terms of population soon there will be nothing left of these landscapes [Music] for 16 hours now the three truckers have been driving almost non-stop [Music] [Music] at 11 pm the engines are silent the driver's struggles their fatigue and their tired bodies battered by the jolts in the road never seem to affect their morale none of these three would trade their job for another their friendship has only grown on the road they take pleasure in camping together it's lights out at midnight they make their beds using the canvas on the top of their trucks on the morning of the third day the drivers have only travelled 270 kilometers they still have almost 80 kilometers to go before reaching their final destination the city of tutin on the chinese border [Music] [Music] spoke too foreign while this slope looks like nothing it's not going to let them pass so easily foreign [Applause] just about two meters of road covered in an hour and still more to go [Music] [Applause] [Music] india and bangladesh are countries of contrasts on the one hand they have become giants in the computer and textile industries but on the other hand the industrial methods they use are sometimes obsolete their economic growth is strong while poverty persists to survive many indians and bangladeshis still practice professions from another age [Music] [Applause] [Music] in bangladesh the bed of the dholai river is massacred by dredges and yet the land contains no precious minerals these men are pebble fishers huge pumps suck up water from the bottom of the river and bring up the pebbles which will then be crushed into gravel for the construction industry this profession is especially profitable after monsoons the raging waves carry thousands of tons of stones from the mountains [Applause] foreign foreign the shores are also torn apart the rocks on the banks are smashed to pieces and when the pebbles are lifted they get crushed [Applause] [Music] [Applause] in a few years the banks of the river will have disappeared sacrificed on the altar of the god of growth [Applause] the tons of rock that have been reduced to gravel are heading for dhaka the capital of bangladesh is booming 17 million people and its population is still growing [Music] like the dollar river the river that runs through the capital is also under a lot of stress its waters are among the most polluted in the world the bangladeshis dump everything into it without limits one of the biggest polluters and providers of jobs are the karanagan [Applause] shipyards [Applause] here men replace machines as they cost much less they don't need maintenance and when they get sick there's always one to take their place they dismantle repair and refurbish any ship with crude methods [Applause] [Music] the noise is deafening to protect their eardrums they use a simple ball of cloth as an earplug [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] every year the 15 000 workers build and refurbish nearly 600 boats but paradoxically even if they pollute heavily the shipyard still has an environmentally friendly system the bangladeshi genius is to make recycling an economy in its own right thirty percent of the country's metal needs come from the recycling of old [Applause] [Music] the yard ships is proud to show us the achievements made with the few means he has at his disposal this world won't ship but running the ship owner wanted to enlarge the capacity here we cut off the at the middle and we pulled the fondant much long different uh distance and the new construction is done in the middle one in the middle it's a totally new totally new totally new ocean totally it was joined over here it was joined so it now it's a big ship some boats are so large that their bows are just a few meters from apartment buildings [Applause] on the construction site the work pace is constant the ships have to stay in the hold for as little time as possible so there's no question of losing time worrying about safety conditions [Applause] he pushes the workers to work as quickly as possible [Applause] [Music] it is impossible to know how many workers are injured or die each year on the construction site but their wages do not at all tally up with the risks they take the most experienced workers earn 10 euros a day [Music] ruben earns five euros just enough to feed his wife and daughter [Music] all three share this nine square meter room reuben hopes to move up quickly to make his dream come true [Applause] most bangladeshis are working in exhausting jobs indians too life is no easier on the road arjun deepak and shanu know something about it for three hours now the drivers have been trying to get over this small hill but arjun's old engine is not strong enough every meter he advances is earned with sweat and tears [Music] [Applause] he finally makes it over now everyone is praying that the other two trucks get over the hurdle without any trouble the men are at the end of their rope they've been trying to reach the town of tuting on the chinese border for three days now [Applause] despite everything arjun takes every obstacle with a dose of philosophy foreign in the brahmaputra valley traveling delivering or simply returning to your family is a kind of bravery in bangladesh getting around also requires a little patience and courage especially on those ferries [Music] all these ships fight a naval battle in the true sense of the word the captains don't hesitate to ram other boats to be the first to disembark and reload the travellers as quickly as possible from dhaka the ferry is sometimes the only way to reach the most inaccessible parts of the [Applause] country departing in a hurry the ships don't leave the dock smoothly [Applause] [Music] all these passengers are returning to their families to celebrate eid al qaeda arrivals and departures are a constant source of stress even for old sea dogs like captain eunice straight ahead and come what may captain eunice wants to be the first on the platform good luck to any ferry that gets in his way [Music] hey [Music] [Music] so far there has never been a serious accident in the port but offshore it's a different story collisions happen at full speed in 10 years the battle of the ferries has killed nearly 1 700 people [Music] some clever men take advantage of the confusion to board the ship clandestinely [Music] [Music] foreign arjun deepak and shanu's boss is not unhappy either the three drivers arrive in tooting in record time it took them only three days to cover 350 kilometers they can't believe it themselves in a few years the route leading to tuting will be a beautiful paved road india is developing at high speed with more than 1.3 billion people they need for drinking water and energy is increasingly urgent but that's not the only reason climate change is changing everything and the battle over water with their neighbor china has just begun with each country building hundreds of dams on the brahmaputra river and its tributaries in the end bangladesh will be the bigger loser and may soon see their majestic river dry up [Music] 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Channel: Free Documentary

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Keywords: Free Documentary, Documentaries, Full documentary, HD documentary, most dangerous roads, most dangerous journeys, worlds most dangerous roads, worlds most dangerous journeys, deadliest roads, deadliest roads in the world, dicing with death, deadliest journeys, deadliest roads india, dangerous roads india, most dangerous roads india, dangerous india, dicing with death india, deadliest journeys india, dangerous roads bangladesh, deadliest journeys bangladesh

Id: a2FRzsRrPgU

Length: 52min 13sec (3133 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 31 2021