Ship Breaking: Bangladesh accounts for half the world’s total
Bangladesh scrapped nearly half of the ships scrapped worldwide over the last quarter, according to a report by NGO Shipbreaking Platform.
All shipbreaking accidents, which happened between July and September this year, also took place in Bangladesh.
The quarterly report published yesterday said 111 ships were dismantled across the world during this period, including 54 in Bangladesh.
India was a distant second, having broken 29 ships, while Turkey scrapped 14 ships.
Four accidents occurred globally in the last quarter, and all those happened in Bangladesh. Three of those resulted in deaths.
On September 19, Nazam Uddin, 33, a worker of NB Steel, died after he fell from a ship, said the report. The ship named Adriatic Energy was owned by South Korean company Sinokor.
On September 17, Harunur, 39, died after falling off a ship. The worker of Bashundhara Toggi Green Shipbreaking Yard was working on a ship called Fortune that was previously owned by the Indonesian company KYK Lines. He was declared dead after being taken to Chattogram Medical College Hospital.
On August 26, Rashel, 25, died when he fell into the sea from a ship, and was washed away during high tide. He was dismantling a ship beached at the Simni shipbreaking yard, said the report.
On August 20, Md Nuruddin was cutting a plate of the ship FV Sheng, when he fell. The worker of Arefin Enterprise survived with leg injuries.
The report also criticised the Bangladesh Ship Breakers and Recyclers Association for putting pressure on the government to recategorise the shipbreaking industry from "red" to "orange".
Downgrading the category would mean the industry will no longer require to obtain environmental impact assessments, and the association claims that the one to two months required for obtaining an environmental clearance hampers the breaking, said the report.
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