One dies falling from scrap vessel

A worker died and another got injured after they fell from a ship at a ship-breaking yard in Sitakunda upazila yesterday.
The deceased was identified as Mohammad Selim, 28, son of Abdul Aziz, from Ishwarganj in Mymensingh. The injured was Nuru Mohammad, 23, of Shahsangacha in Sirajganj, police said.
Both were workers at Peninsula Super Shipyard in Sheetalpur area under the upazila. The yard is owned by former President of Ship Breaking Owners Association Jafar Alam, sources said.
Witnesses said the two fell from a crane fixed on a ship at around 10.30am. They were rushed to the Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) with serious injuries where Selim died at around 1.30pm, said Constable Mohsin at CMCH police camp.
The victim's younger brother Lokman Hossain, and a co-worker at the same yard for the last three years, said Selim and Nuru were working without any safety devices.
While talking to The Daily Star at CMCH yesterday, he alleged the shipyard authority does not provide any kind of safety devices to its workers.
The owner of the yard could not be contacted over his cell phone even after repeated attempts.
With yesterday's accident, seven people have so far died in four separate accidents in four ship breaking yards over the last eight months. Four workers were killed and another suffered critical burn injury in an explosion at MAK Corporation Ship Breaking Yard while scrapping a tanker on January 18 this year.
A cutter Md Nur Un Nabi, 30, was killed at Mahin Enterprise, a ship breaking yard at Sheetalpur in the upazila on March 16 night after an iron-plate fell on him.
Md Ibrahim, also 30, was killed and two others injured in an accident at Jamuna Shipbreaking yard at Kadam Rasul area in Sitakunda on August 14.