The asbestos victims of Eternit – in pictures
The billionaire owner of the Eternit factories in Italy, who allowed workers to be exposed to asbestos, may be heading back to court. Alfredo Covino has been following the plight of the victims
-
Across four Eternit factories in Italy, thousands of workers became victims of asbestos inhalation. Their case against the company was overturned. The legal challenge is being restarted this month. Photographer Alfredo Covino has been following their plight. All photographs: Alfredo Covino
-
Eternit, owned by the Swiss billionaire Stephan Schmidheiny and late Belgian baron Jean Louis Marie Ghislain de Cartier de Marchienne, had factories in Casale Monferrato, Cavagnolo, Rubiera and Bagnoli
-
The company manufactured a roofing and panelling material made from a blend of asbestos and cement
-
A road near the factory. Asbestos causes respiratory diseases including asbestosis and a particularly malignant tumour called pleural mesothelioma
-
-
The bed of a former worker suffering from asbestosis. It wasn’t just former workers who contracted diseases – citizens of nearby Casale also fell ill, as leftover asbestos dust was used for heat insulation and fire-proofing in their homes
-
Here, residual asbestos is reclaimed near the site of the Eternit factory
-
Eternit went bankrupt in 1986 – six years later, asbestos was banned in Italy
-
A book belonging to a former worker at the Eternit factory. In 2009, a trial against Eternit started in Turin, with thousands of people bringing a civil action against the former company chiefs
-
-
Schmidheiny and de Marchienne were sentenced in 2012 to 16 years in jail for intentionally omitting to put measures in place to prevent asbestos damage
-
Romana Blasotti Pavesi, honorary president of an association for victims, who brought the case
Photograph: Alfredo Covino
-
In 2014 the Italian supreme court annulled the sentence, cancelling out convictions and compensations in favour of the plaintiffs
-
A new case is currently being brought against Schmidheiny, now accused of 258 deaths – a decision is still being made over whether it is legal to bring the new case against him
-
-
A photo of some of the former workers in happier times. Covino says: ‘In Casale people are still being diagnosed with mesothelioma. In Casale, people are still dying’
