Working Lives Yangon: Diver

Than Nyunt earns a living diving for scraps of iron and timber in the murky Yangon River.

Using a makeshift mask attached to a simple air tube he crawls along the river bed in zero visibility until he bumps into something that might have value.

"We are clever at this and experienced. We know the river," he says. "When we're on the river bed we crawl on our hands and knees touching things."

Finding anything is largely down to luck. On average he earns about $15 (£10) a day. But turning up a large piece of iron such as a propeller or anchor, can earn his team between $50 and $100.

It is a dangerous business. The air he breathes is pumped from a simple compressor through a hose that can easily snag.

"Many people have been killed doing this including my trainer and some of my friends," he says.

Some divers have been trapped inside ship wrecks or had their masks ripped off by strong underwater currents.