The NGO Shipbreaking platform reported that two shipbreaking workers were recently killed at Indian beaching yards. Both yards have applied for recognition under the EU Ship Recycling Regulation.
Specifically, the first fatality concerns a 50-year-old worker at Priya Blue yard – Plot V1, who was working on a ship when a metal plate fell on his head. He was transferred to the nearest hospital in bad condition and pronounced dead at arrival.
The second fatal incident is about a worker at the Shree Ram shipbreaking yard, who was killed in an explosion during steel cutting on September 3. Police are investigating the circumstances of the accident.
Ingvild Jenssen, founder and executive director of NGO Shipbreaking Platform commented
We expect transparency on the causes of these fatalities, and that both the yards and owners of the vessels upon which the accidents occurred are held to account.
As the NGO Shipbreaking Platform highlights, both of the yards were examples of modernization and improvement, following the terms of the Hong Kong Convention on ship recycling.
In an exclusive interview with SAFETY4SEA, Mr Rohit Agarwal, Ship Recycling Expert at GSR Sentinels LLP, commented that although India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have the ideal tidal conditions for ship breaking, the ship recycling industry has been using unacceptable conditions. Also, Alang has been found several times at the centre of global criticism regarding the unsafe working conditions and environmentally unsustainable practices, as Bangladeshi and Pakistani shipbreaking yards.
