Seven Workers Die in Toxic Gas Leak at Bangladesh Ship Recycling Yard
Key Takeaways
- •Seven workers died—two at the yard and five at Chattogram Medical College Hospital—after toxic gas escaped from a tank aboard an LNG carrier being dismantled at Ferdous Steel Ship Recycling Industries in Sitakunda.
- •Chattogram police attributed the casualties to toxic gas rather than an explosion, and several additional workers were taken ill.
- •Bangladesh's Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments has launched an investigation into the cause of the leak and whether adequate safety measures were in place at the time.
- •Ferdous Steel holds Hong Kong Convention authorisation from the Bangladesh Ship Recycling Board valid until October 2030, and the convention's mandatory safety and environmental requirements entered into force in June last year.
- •The yard belongs to Ziri Subedar Group, whose Sitakunda operations have recorded multiple serious accidents, keeping worker safety in the region under sustained scrutiny from labour rights groups.
Seven workers have died following a toxic gas leak at a ship recycling yard in Bangladesh.
The accident occurred on Friday morning at Ferdous Steel Ship Recycling Industries in Bhatiyari, Sitakunda, a facility authorised under the IMO's Hong Kong Convention on ship recycling. Bangladesh is one of the world's largest ship-recycling nations by tonnage, with the industry clustered along the Sitakunda coast north of Chattogram, and scrap steel from dismantled vessels is a major source of raw material for the country's construction sector.
According to local news agency UNB, two workers died at the yard, while five others subsequently died at Chattogram Medical College Hospital. Several more workers were taken ill.
Although initial reports described an explosion, Chattogram police said the casualties were caused by toxic gas escaping from a tank aboard a vessel being dismantled. The vessel has been identified locally as an LNG carrier that was nearing the end of the dismantling process. Exposure to toxic gases in tanks and other confined spaces is a long-documented hazard of ship dismantling work.
Yard officials said liquid waste had been discovered in part of the ship before a safety officer and other workers went to inspect the area.
Bangladesh's Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments has launched an investigation into the cause of the leak and whether adequate safety measures were in place at the time of the incident.
Ferdous Steel's authorisation from the Bangladesh Ship Recycling Board under the Hong Kong Convention runs until October 2030. The convention, adopted in 2009, entered into force in June last year and introduced mandatory global requirements covering safety and environmental standards at ship recycling facilities, including the authorisation and periodic inspection of yards by national authorities.
The yard is part of the Ziri Subedar Group, which has suffered a number of serious accidents at its Sitakunda recycling operations over the years, a record that has kept worker safety at the region's yards under sustained scrutiny from labour rights groups.
