Platform News – Platform launches fundraising campaign for afflicted workers
More than 70 percent of end-of-life vessels end up in South Asia, where they are broken down under rudimentary conditions on the beaches of Alang-Sosiya in India, Chattogram in Bangladesh, and Gadani in Pakistan - a practice known as ‘beaching’. The human and environmental impacts of the shipbreaking industry are devastating. The industry is even considered by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) as one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.
Shipbreaking workers, often exploited migrants, lose their lives on accidents or suffer severe injuries, such as burns, amputations and serious spinal injuries, due to unsafe working conditions. The shipbreaking workers are also vulnerable to occupational diseases due to the exposure to toxic substances embedded within the ships’ structures, including asbestos, PCBs and heavy metals. Asbestos is one of the most common and most hazardous materials found onboard ships. When extracted, it breaks into fine fibres, which can be suspended in the air for long periods of time. If inhaled, the fibres can lead to fatal diseases such as lung cancer, mesothelioma and asbestosis.
Since 2009, around 7000 ships were beached in South Asia with a recorded data of 425 deaths and 329 injuries. The figures on accidents are likely to be much higher, and occupational diseases are not even registered in these statistics and are difficult to monitor.
We are now calling for your support to help injured workers and asbestos victims in Bangladesh. Check out our fundraising campaign for more information by clicking here or on the image below.
![](https://shipbreakingplatform.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Sara-Costa-copy.png)
![](https://shipbreakingplatform.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/ICON_TEAM-1.png)
Related news
![](https://shipbreakingplatform.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-22-at-19.05.40-500x500.png)
Press Release – Imminent breaking of asbestos-laden NOASS Miller Freeman worries NGOs and local residents of Union Bay, British Columbia
NGOs once again call upon B.C. federal, provincial and local competent bodies to halt the shipbreaking activities conducted by Deep Water Recovery LTD (DWR) at Union Bay.
... Read More![](https://shipbreakingplatform.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Screenshot-2023-06-15-at-11.00.52-500x500.png)
Press Release – Human rights and environmental NGOs urge UNDP to ensure the clean and safe recycling of FSO Safer
The NGOs warn against the possibility of the FSO being scrapped at one of the notorious South Asian shipbreaking yards.
... Read More![](https://shipbreakingplatform.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/48090884_10156000404850036_6824841945471254528_n-500x500.jpg)
Press Release – Belgian Public Prosecutor appeals acquittal of CMB’s subsidiary Bocimar NV
On 25 June, the Court of Antwerp dismissed the charges pressed against ship owner Bocimar NV for the scrapping of a vessel in a Bangladeshi yard where… Read More
![](https://shipbreakingplatform.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/G5P0251_resize-500x500.jpg)
Platform publishes South Asia Quarterly Update #26
Eleven workers suffered an accident on South Asian beaches in the second quarter of 2021.
... Read More![](https://shipbreakingplatform.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/9-500x500.jpg)
Press Release – Europe has capacity to recycle its ships, new data shows – yet shipowners want to use dangerous, polluting yards abroad
Ship recycling yards approved by the EU will have enough capacity to handle demand from EU-flagged ships that need to be scrapped, a new analysis shows. The… Read More
![](https://shipbreakingplatform.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/harrier.joningemundsen-660x440-1-500x500.jpg)
Platform News – Prison sentence for attempted illegal export of the Harrier reveals reckless actions by all parties involved
The judgment, now available in English, provides shocking insights into the role played by all parties involved in the sale and transport of the end-of-life vessel.
... Read More![](https://shipbreakingplatform.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/DSC09282-1.jpg_effected-660x440-1-500x500.jpg)
Platform News – Investigative journalists catch Maersk red-handed in Alang
Investigative journalists from Danwatch today release their comprehensive report on the reality inside Shree Ram shipbreaking yard in Alang, India, where the Maersk Georgia and Maersk… Read More
![](https://shipbreakingplatform.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/A-Mani-Nude-©-Tomaso-Clavarino-Bassa-Risoluzione9-1-500x500.jpg)
Platform News – ‘With Bare Hands’: an immersive journey into the problems of shipbreaking
International media outlets publish ‘With bare hands’, the first multimedia and data-driven reporting project that documents the negative impacts on the environment and the human costs of… Read More