CHATTOGRAM: Nine shipbreaking workers and employees died after being exposed to toxic gas inside a scrap vessel at a shipbreaking yard in Sitakunda’s Bhatiari of Chattogram on 14th August.
The incident happened around 9:00am inside an LNG-carrier MT Rasi,(IMO 9176008) at Ferdous Steel Shipyard on the Station Road of Bhatiari. Among those killed was a 17-year-old. Several other workers were injured.
Firefighters rescued the workers from the vessel which was anchored adjacent to Ferdous Steel Shipyard in the morning.
The death toll increased to nine after another injured worker, Motiur Rahaman, 17, son of Md Hanif, of Sitakunda’s Sonaichhari, died at a private hospital in Chattogram.
The other victims are Palash Das and Sunny Das — from Bhatiari; Mohammad Khokon Mia, of Gaibandha; and Mohammad Mansur, Abdul Alim Sujon, Md Rana, Nasir Uddin and Md Hanif — all from Sonaichari in Mirsarai.
Toxic gas in ship’s tank’
Safety experts today said the deaths were caused by an accumulation of toxic gas inside a confined tank onboard the vessel. Fishermen operating in the Bay of Bengal reported smelling the gas from half a kilometre away.
Muhammad Ali Shahin, a shipbreaking expert and head of advocacy at the non-profit organisation YPSA, described the incident as unprecedented. “I have never seen such massive casualties in a shipbreaking yard,” Shahin said, pointing to severe negligence by the yard authority.
“Toxic gas had accumulated in the ship’s tank,” Shahin explained. “Instead of slowly venting and cleaning the tank with proper precautionary measures, the yard management sent workers inside to extract the gas quickly.
The workers opened the tank in a confined space and inhaled the lethal fumes. Although this yard received Hong Kong Convention (HKC) Green Yard certification, they failed to comply with its safety guidelines.”
The incident comes despite the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships coming into force globally on June 26, 2025.
Established by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the treaty mandates strict guidelines, including an Inventory of Hazardous Materials (IHM), regulator-approved Ship Recycling Plans (SRP), and rigorous occupational health and safety protocols.
“The technology and safety protocols to reduce these risks exist, but the challenge is ensuring consistent implementation rather than keeping them on paper,” Shahin added.
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,” says Ingvild Jenssen, Executive Director of the 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.
