The European Union is banning the practice of dismantling old ships on beaches in South Asia. Last year alone, 641 tankers, cruise liners and other old vessels were rammed onto beaches in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan and stripped down by hundreds of unskilled workers, Reuters reports. Chemicals leak into the ocean when the tide comes in. It's estimated that about 470 workers have died in the past 20 years in accidents in Alang-Sosiya, the world’s largest stretch of ship-breaking beaches, in Gujarat.

General view of the Galloo ship recycling plant in Ghent from a French seismic vessel, February 25, 2015. (FRANCOIS LENOIR/REUTERS)

Workers dismantle steel plates of a decommissioned ship at the Alang shipyard in the western Indian state of Gujarat, March 27, 2015. (AMIT DAVE/REUTERS)

A worker uses a cutting torch on a large block cut from a vessel at the Galloo ship recycling plant in Ghent March 23, 2015. (FRANCOIS LENOIR/REUTERS)

Workers carry a rope line to fasten a decommissioned ship at the Alang shipyard in the western Indian state of Gujarat, March 27, 2015. (AMIT DAVE/REUTERS)

A worker uses a cutting torch to dismantle the hull of a barge covered in barnacles near French navy vessels at the Galloo ship recycling plant in Ghent, March 24, 2015. (FRANCOIS LENOIR/REUTERS)

Source: the globe and mail. 31 March 2015

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