Shipbreaking remains dirty and dangerous work,
particularly in South Asia, the NGO Shipbreaking Platform reminded the industry
in its latest update.
In Pakistan, two
workers were killed when an iron plate fell onto them at Dewan Shipbreaking,
one of the many plots in Gadani. The local union reports that the workers were
dismantling the bulker Catherine Bright when they were crushed, and claims that
they were forced to work without proper
safety measures in place. The union claims that the workers' bodies were
quietly buried at night, without any post-mortem, in order to reduce liability
exposure for the yard owner and labor contractor.
The quarter also saw at least six significant
injuries, all in Bangladesh. Two security guards were injured in a fall in the engine room of Chinese-owned
Hao 3. A worker in the Hong Kong Convention-compliant yard SN Corporation broke
a leg aboard the Japanese-owned Sight, sold via a cash buyer. A torch operator
injured his back in a fall aboard Chinese-owned Jin Hai Xi, and another two
workers were hurt while dismantling the Malaysian-owned tanker Nautica.
NGO Shipbreaking Platform has tallied a total of
449 deaths and 408 injuries at South Asian yards since 2009, or one casualty
for every 10 ships broken. The NGO believes that injuries are widely underreported, and that the
true count is likely higher.
To deal with the
aftermath of these accidents, the NGO sets up periodic healthcare and training
events for injured workers, hoping to rehabilitate them for other trades where
their disabilities will not prevent them from earning a living. The group is collecting donations for this
mission, and the costs are relatively low at about $400 for a six-month
vocational training for one worker