At least 21 shipbreaking workers
died Tuesday and many more are injured and missing after gas cylinders exploded
onboard an oil production tanker beached for scrapping at Gadani, on the
Arabian Sea.
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An oil tanker beached for scrapping at
Gadani, Pakistan, exploded Nov. 1, 2016, killing 21 and injuring many others.
(Photo courtesy Khyber News)
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More than 60 workers are reported injured.
Officials fear the death toll will rise as many of the injured workers are in
critical condition with severe burns.
Missing workers reportedly remain stuck in
the ship, where 24 hours after the blast, the fire is still blazing. The fire
has reportedly spread to the ship’s engine room where fuel and gas cylinders
are located.
“It could take another 48 hours to control
the fire, as the tanker still has a significant quantity of oil present in the
ship,” Commissioner Kalat Hashim Gulzai told reporters.
Local firefighters supported by the Pakistan
Navy and Coastguard are still battling the fire, Hashim said Wednesday.
The floating oil production tanker, ACES (IMO
#8021830), was sold to the Gadani shipbreaker by Jakarta-based PT Sinar Mentari
Prima. It was used in the Jabung Batanghari terminal owned by the Indonesian
government company BPMIGAS and operated by PetroChina.
Hashim said the contractor for the tanker
work has been arrested and all shipbreaking at the Gadani yard has been banned
while safety standards are reviewed.
Located in Balochistan province, the coastal
village of Gadani, 50 kilometers (30 miles) northwest of Karachi, is the site
of the world’s third largest shipbreaking yard.
The Pakistan National Trade Union Federation,
NTUF, has announced three days of mourning and a strike at all the country’s
shipbreaking yards.
Workers rallied in Gadani Wednesday,
protesting the dangerous working conditions and lack of government support to
enforce safety and occupational health laws.
Demanding their right to health and safety,
the NTUF held a demonstration in Karachi Sunday, October 30. They called upon
the Pakistan and Balochistan governments to address the many breaches of
international workers’ rights that endanger shipbreaking workers in Gadani.
“This terrific accident is a painful reminder
of the dangerous working conditions at the shipbreaking yards in Gadani. Our
thoughts go first and foremost to the victims, to their families and friends,”
said Ingvild Jenssen, policy director of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform, based
in Brussels, Belgium.
The NGO Shipbreaking Platform is a coalition
of 19 environmental, human rights and labor rights organizations working to
prevent the pollution and unsafe working conditions created when end-of-life
ships containing toxic materials in their structures are traded, beached and
broken up for scrap.
The Platform joins NTUF’s demand that all
victims of the oil tanker explosion must receive adequate treatment for their
injuries and that they, or their relatives, must receive financial compensation
for their losses.
Abid Qaiyum Suleri, executive director of the
Sustainable Development Policy Institute, a Pakistani Platform member
organization said Wednesday, “Health and safety must come first. This terrible
blast could have been avoided. There is a clear lack of infrastructure and
equipment in Gadani to prevent such a deadly accident.”
“Rescue operations are extremely difficult
due to the lack of ambulances and firefighting equipment and because rapid
access to the ship and the workers that are still stuck inside is extremely
challenging,” Suleri said.
The NGO Shipbreaking Platform is calling for
the closure of the Gadani beaching yards and for a move of the industry off the
beach to areas that are under strict control, using alternative and safer
methods in docks or along piers.
This year, the NGO Shipbreaking Platform has
documented an increasing number of vessels related to the oil industry arriving
for demolition on the beaches of South Asia as well as in Turkey and China.
The Platform is calling on the large oil and
gas companies to ensure that their business partners – companies specialized in
drill ships, companies leasing oil platforms, as well as tanker companies –
commit to clean and safe recycling off the beach.
Source: Environment
News Service. 02 November 2016
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