An explosion on board a tanker at Gadani shipbreaking yard in Pakistan has left at least six people dead, over 70 injured and over 200 trapped, according to reports.
Hundreds of people are trapped in the shipbreaking yard which is still “engulfed in flames” at the time of this publication according to Deputy General Secretary of the National Trade Union Federation.
The fire began with eight explosions that occurred when the vessel was being dismantled using hot welding torches.
Short video clips released on twitter show the most recent visual updates on the situation, as seen below:
Seven dead, over 50 injured in Gadani ship-breaking yard explosion pic.twitter.com/jKjXzLTBx1
— Roohan Ahmed (@Roohan2Ahmed) November 1, 2016
#Fire #Gadani #Shipbreaking yard…… pic.twitter.com/PeDgzKmbfM
— Syed Taha Fareed (@SyedTahaFareed1) November 1, 2016
This incident comes after the world’s attention was turned to the safety of these shipbreaking yards, as Maersk was caught decommissioning its ships and encouraging them to be scrapped there.
Despite the long list of safety concerns and environmentally damaging operations, ship owners use Bangladeshi, Indian and Pakistani shipbreaking yards because the labour is very cheap and they can get a high price for steel.
Maersk caused further controversy after stating it was better they used the shipyards, to encourage them to improve their standard of operations.
