Uranium mine that kills

Some of these areas have been mentioned several times during these 23 years, but others are still unknown. These areas have taken lives and are still causing human tragedies.

Nicma is one of them, hidden between mountains, 20 kilometers from Kukes. The then communist government cooperated with Chinese specialists in a water resource area to open uranium mines. The works continued until it was found that the quantity was not enough for going on. A huge amount of uranium was mixed with another poisoning element, lead.

Works in this mine were interrupted in the 80s and no one ever spoke about nicma any more, a village that pays with human lives the consequences of radioactivity and lead poisoning.

Most of the Nimca miners have already died and no one knows what had caused their diseases, but none of them lived longer than 55.

Many miners have lost their children and others were born with mental problems. Uranium might have not been enough to please specialists, but it could have been enough to plant death and diseases around. The wastes and inert materials of the mine have been thrown around the mountains, and the water that goes through them pours in a river where children play and cattle drinks.

Residents talk about the family of Mevlan Hodo, who saw eight of his children die, and Nebi Koboci saw seven of his children die, and today he has only one son with mental problems.

“Two of my children have died. One of my children that I have at home is not well”, says Rehan, another resident.

Nimca today has only 23-24 families, from 100 that they used to have once. Everyone tries to escape their reality.

As if death wasn’t enough, they can’t even sell their agricultural goods.

“They said that our cow’s milk has diseases, and our potatoes are not accepted in Kukes”, a resident says.

There are no official statistics, however, the number of dead people in this area is beyond any normal limit.

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