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More workers killed in Bangladeshi shipbreaking yard

26 October, 2015On 20 October another major accident happened in a Chittagong shipbreaking yard, this time killing three workers. IndustriALL Global Union campaigns to clean up this industry, the world’s most dangerous to work in.

This latest accident took place in S. R. Corporation, one of the major shipbreaking companies in Bangladesh.

In the process of dismantling a ship, the S. R. Corporation workers were cutting a gas cylinder when it exploded.

The injured workers were sent to the nearby hospital for treatment but doctors could not save their lives as they were all severely burned.

The names of the workers who died were Rusel, Kairul and Aminul. All three were employed as gas cutters.

IndustriALL director for the shipbuilding and shipbreaking sector, Kan Matsuzaki said:

Every occupational death is avoidable. And every time a shipbreaking worker is killed at work it strengthens our resolve to campaign for the ratification of the Hong Kong Convention. When we succeed in making that resolution a reality the lives of workers in the world’s most dangerous job will change.

BMF (Bangladesh Metalworkers’ Federation) and BML (Bangladesh Metalworkers’ League), two major IndustriALL affiliates took up the issue with the employer and local authority to ensure that the families of the deceased workers get an adequate compensation.

Only last month, 5 September, four workers were killed following a gas cylinder explosion in the Shital Shipbreaking yard in Chittagong. Such deadly accidents are the result of a continued lack of proper procedures, inadequate infrastructure, insufficient training and no compliance with safety norms.