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Romania: The Sewer Dwellers of Bucharest

June 30, 2014

An estimated 6,000 homeless people live in the network of sewers and tunnels beneath the streets of Bucharest. Many were born underground and are now having children themselves.

https://p.dw.com/p/1CSwn
Bildergalerie Straßenkinder Bukarest
Image: Jodi Hilton

It's a world of its own, a world full of drugs, disease and poverty that's developed beneath the capital. The sewer dwellers live in the tunnels, canals, and sometimes in caves they've dug themselves, because they have nowhere else to go. Many have tuberculosis, hepatitis or are HIV positive, and live in tightly organized groups. Children in particular sniff paint to escape their misery -- at least for a while.

Bildergalerie Straßenkinder Bukarest
Image: Jodi Hilton