Geamăna

In 1978 the people of Geamăna, a small town near the Lupşa commune in Alba county, were forced to leave their homes to make way for toxic waste from Roşia Poieni mining pit.

In 1977, Romania’s dictator Nicolae Ceausescu decided to exploit the huge copper deposit discovered underground forcing around 400 families to relocate by '78.

Over the years the new toxic lake has grown in size and now only a few small glimpses from the former town break the surface.

There are, however, still a few families left in the area who were lucky enough to have built their homes further up the hillside.