Tag: fatal

Press Release – Nine shipbreaking workers killed in Bangladesh

Posted on by Nicola Mulinaris

Fatalities in South Asia expose systemic failures while the EU considers approving beaching yards.

 MT RASI (IMO 9176008) beached at Ferdous Steel, Chattogram, Bangladesh. March 2026

© Daniel Thorpe

The NGO Shipbreaking Platform condemns yet another tragic accident on the shipbreaking beaches of South Asia.

 

On 14 August, nine workers died after exposure to toxic gas inside the LNG carrier MT RASI (IMO 9176008) at Ferdous Steel in Chattogram, Bangladesh. Among those killed was a 17-year-old. Several other workers were injured.

 

The tragedy occurred at a yard certified as compliant with the Hong Kong Convention (HKC). Only one month earlier, Bangladesh's Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments had taken legal action against Ferdous Steel following repeated occupational safety failures. Following the deaths, the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) issued a notice demanding an independent investigation and the shutdown of the yard. 

 

The scale of this tragedy is shocking, but fatal and serious accidents in the sector are far from exceptional. According to The Daily Star, 84 accidents have occurred at Bangladeshi yards since the HKC entered into force in June 2025, leaving 15 workers dead and 81 injured. 

 

These figures expose the gap between certification on paper and conditions on the ground. They also underline the limits of the HKC itself. The Convention establishes a weaker global baseline than the obligations of the Basel Convention, which is designed to prevent hazardous waste from being exported to countries unable to manage it in an environmentally sound manner.

"Hazardous end-of-life ships should not be exported for recycling where environmentally sound management cannot be guaranteed. Yet, due to weak enforcement, vessels continue to be sent to South Asian beaches despite recurring deaths, pollution, and serious deficiencies in hazardous waste management. Certifications must not become a licence to continue business as usual."
Ingvild Jenssen - Executive Director and Founder - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

Accountability does not stop at the yard gate. Shipowners and cash buyers decide where vessels are dismantled and must bear responsibility for those choices. 

 

The RASI is the former HL RAS LAFFAN, owned by South Korean H-Line Shipping and linked by shipping databases to cash buyer GMS. In March 2025, the Platform specifically warned that H-Line was preparing to retire the vessel, while denouncing the company's continued disposal of end-of-life ships on South Asian shores. 

 

The Platform calls on Bangladeshi authorities to ensure an independent and transparent investigation into the nine deaths, hold those responsible to account, schedule regular unannounced inspections, and enforce safety and environmental requirements. 

 

The tragedy should also serve as yet another warning to regulators elsewhere. As the European Commission considers approving shipbreaking facilities that continue to dismantle vessels directly on beaches, the costs of accepting certification in place of genuinely safe and contained recycling infrastructure could not be clearer. 

Press Release – Fatal accidents in Aliağa continue to raise serious concerns on Turkish shipbreaking yards’ safety

Posted on by Nicola Mulinaris

In the last four months, Aliağa ship recycling workers have faced three tragic fatal accidents. Despite repeated warnings by civil society organisations, inadequate occupational safety measures, insufficient inspections, and weak enforcement of labour and environmental regulations continue to threaten the lives of workers and cause accidents that could have been prevented. 

Several members of the Turkish Parliament join the NGOs in denouncing the conditions at the shipbreaking yards and call on the European Union to revoke approval of such practices.  

"During meetings we held in Aliağa, almost every worker shared a ‘near-miss’ story. With wages that are below the poverty line, workers are forced to accept constant risk of occupational death. While it is impossible for the Ministry of Labour and Social Security not to be aware of this situation, the responses we receive to our parliamentary questions are limited to ‘copy-and-paste’ reminders of existing legislation. Moreover, although the necessary regulations have not been implemented, EU certifications are still in place. To stop occupational deaths and ensure decent wages, it is imperative that workers trust one another, unite, and act in an organised manner. We will continue to stand by workers’ struggle and to amplify their voices and their fight."
Iskender Bayhan - Member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey - The Labour Party

On 11 January, Salih Ataman, 49, died at Blade ship recycling yard in Aliağa, Turkey, when a massive hook detached from a crane and fell on him. Salih Ataman was dismantling the Discoverer Americas, a drillship owned by US-based Transocean Ltd.

Last year, another fatal accident occurred on 13 November at the EU-listed Temurtaşlar yard, where the Dolphin Leader, a ship owned by Dolphin Drilling [1], was being dismantled. Unaware that another worker was cutting the hull on the upper section of the vessel, Hasan Aktepe, 44, died when a large cut-off metal piece fell on him. According to the information provided by the workers from Temurtaşlar, the dismantling of the Dolphin Leader was conducted with lump-sum payments where a bonus is provided if the ship is dismantled rapidly. As highlighted in our report on the conditions at the Turkish ship recycling yards, this practice incentivises an increased pace and prolonged working days in violation of set working hours and official leave times

On 2 October, Halil İbrahim Uz, employed by a subcontractor of İzmir Mavi Denizcilik Geri Dönüşüm ship recycling yard, fell from a height of five meters. Workers raised concerns that the ambulance took at least 45 minutes to arrive. Despite eventual medical intervention, Uz’s life could not be saved. He was 45 years old, married, and had children. 

These recent fatal accidents clearly show that Aliağa-based shipbreaking yards fail to provide essential safety provisions for their workers. The fact that accidents, which could have been avoided, also occur at EU-approved shipbreaking yards should prompt the European Commission to reassess the approval and the monitoring procedures of all Turkish ship recycling yards.  

"We reiterate our call to remove the Aliağa-based shipbreaking yards from the EU list until stricter procedures in terms of occupational safety and the containment of pollutants are put in place. The fact that fatalities and dangerous practices, including payment methods that encourage breaches of labour laws, occur also in EU-listed yards should raise concerns over the EU list’s credibility and the EU auditing procedures of Turkish ship recycling facilities. We cannot accept this double standard, nor that the death rate from workplace accidents in the Aliağa shipbreaking region has consistently been above the Turkish average. Certification of these human rights violations must be halted."
Asli Odman - Istanbul Worker's Health and Safety Watch

NOTES

 

[1] The Bideford Dolphin, an oil platform sent for dismantling to IŞIKSAN where İbrahim Karakaya lost his life in August 2024, and 10 other workers got injured due to a toxic gas leak, was owned by Dolphin Drilling as well.