Study by a rights group says children are working “absolutely terrifying conditions”

“Thousands” of children in the Philippines are working in dangerous underwater gold mines that could collapse without notice, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).

The organization released a report on Wednesday documenting the stories of 65 of these child miners, some as young as 9 years old, who have suffered adverse health effects from their work in the mines. HRW said that it had also interviewed local officials, health workers, mining experts and community leaders.

Many of the children HRW spoke to said they descended into deep, watery pits to find gold, then later processed the precious metal with mercury, a poisonous metal that causes muscle spasms, back pain and skin irritation.

“Filipino children are working in absolutely terrifying conditions in small-scale gold mines,” Juliane Kippenberg, associate children’s-rights director at HRW and author of the report, says in a statement to TIME. “The Philippine government prohibits dangerous child labor, but has done very little to enforce the law.” Details