Another shipbreaking worker died following an accident which occurred at Bangladesh’s shipbreaking yard K.R Ship Yard, located on the sea coast of Sitakunda, NGO Shipbreaking Platform’s Executive Director, Patrizia Heidegger, has confirmed.
The 30-year-old Mohammed Raju died after he was struck by a falling steel plate on August 29 while he was working under a large iron plate in the yard, which is owned by BBC Steel.
NGO Shipbreaking Platform’s local member organisation OSHE reported that the iron plate fell down on Raju, and that his was recovered from underneath the plate nearly two hours later.
According to Bangladesh Labour Law, the victim’s family is entitled to a compensation, which in this case amounts to BDT 100,000 (around EUR 1000).
The tragic event comes a month after the NGO Shipbreaking Platform released a report which showed that there was a surge in fatal accidents at beaching yards in Bangladesh as at least five shipbreaking workers had been killed and five more severely injured in only a month.
“We have counted 17 dead shipbreaking workers in Bangladesh this year, with 10 more men severely injured. And that is only the tip of the iceberg,” Heidegger said, adding that the yard owners “grossly neglect occupational health and safety measures for the sake of profit.”
“Everyone who claims that the Bangladesh shipbreaking industry is improving quickly and is becoming a ‘green’ and ‘worker-friendly’ environment is just ignorant of the everyday reality in the yards, a reality that the industry and its global business partners seek to conceal behind empty promises,” Heidegger said.
The ships currently being scrapped at the K.R Ship Yard are the AN FU STAR and the ELLA, owned by China’s Hong Da International Group Holdings Company Limited and Japan-based Kumiai Senpaku Company Limited.
Copyright Ships & Ports Ltd. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit given to www.shipsandports.com.ng as the source.