One worker died and several others have been injured in an explosion at a Chittagong shipbreaking yard in Bangladesh.
The incident occurred on Wednesday morning while the workers were dismantling a yet-unidentified ship in Sitakunda Upazila, United News of Bangladesh (UNB) reported.
“Six workers sustained burn injuries when the fire broke out at the pump room of a scrap ship around 8:30am,” Zahirul Islam from Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) police camp was cited by UNB as saying.
He added that the six injured men were brought to the hospital where one of them was declared dead.
The deceased reportedly worked for Premier Trade Corporation and Mahinur Ship Recycling Yard.
The incident follows the one in February this year, which claimed the lives of two workers in Chittagong. The two men were working at Shagorika Ship Breaking Yard when a fire broke out on a tanker that was being dismantled.
Despite dire conditions at a number of beaching yards in South Asia, shipowners continue to sell their vessels there in order to get higher values.
In 2018, a total of 744 large ocean-going commercial vessels were sold to the scrap yards. Out of these, 518 were broken down on South Asia beaches, accounting for a record-breaking 90.4% of the gross tonnage dismantled globally, according to data provided by NGO Shipbreaking Platform.
