Nine dead in a single morning
Nine workers, including a pair of brothers, died on Friday morning after toxic gas swept through a scrap vessel at a shipbreaking yard in Sitakunda, becoming the latest fatalities in an industry that has killed workers by the hundreds over the past two decades.
The gas reportedly leaked from a cylinder aboard the vessel at Ferdous Steel Ship Breaking Yard in Bhatiary’s Station Road area at around 9 am, as workers carried out housekeeping duties inside the ship.
Fire Service station officer Abdullah Al Mamun said three workers died at the scene, while six others succumbed after being rushed to Chattogram Medical College Hospital (CMCH), bringing the toll to nine. At least ten more fell ill.
Initial reports named four of the victims as Sani Jaldas, 22, Palash Jaldas, 27, and brothers Mansur Ali, 40, and Nasir Uddin, 38 — all residents of Bhatiary. Police later identified four of the dead as Nasir, Mansur, Rana and Khokon; the discrepancy between the two sets of names could not immediately be reconciled.
Md Mohiuddin went to CMCH searching for his brother-in-law Mansur and instead found his body. He said Mansur’s younger brother, Nasir, had also died of gas poisoning. The two brothers had left home for work at 7 am.
“Within two hours, we received news of the accident. By then, everything was over. My sister has two daughters. I don’t know how they will survive now,” Mohiuddin said.
The Fire Service said the vessel had previously carried liquefied natural gas and should have been declared gas-free before cutting work began.
Md Mahiuddin, a representative of the yard owner, told media the workers were exposed because of their own “carelessness.”
But decades of accident data point instead to a persistent pattern of hazardous conditions, weak supervision and lax enforcement across the country’s shipbreaking industry.
According to the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS), at least 137 workers were killed and 205 injured in accidents at Sitakunda’s shipbreaking yards between 2015 and 2024, with the deadliest year, 2019, claiming 23 lives.
The toll stretches back much further. Young Power in Social Action (YPSA) data cited in a 2015 study, A Risk Assessment Tool for the Ship Recycling Industry, recorded more than 90 worker deaths in the sector between 2005 and 2011.
A separate 2017 report prepared for the IMO-NORAD SENSREC project cited earlier YPSA estimates putting the industry’s death toll at roughly 400 over the preceding two decades.
Toxic gas has repeatedly been implicated — workers killed after entering tanks and confined spaces filled with poisonous fumes, and gas explosions causing multiple deaths in a single incident.
Accidents Rising, Not Falling
Far from receding, the risks appear to be intensifying. BILS recorded 28 workplace accidents in the first six months of 2026 alone — up from 15 in the same period last year, an increase of nearly 87%.
Three workers were killed and 25 injured, ten of them seriously, in that six-month span. April saw the highest number of incidents, and most — 21 of 28 — occurred during daytime operations.
Cutters, cutter helpers, crane helpers, wire-group workers, fitters and loading crews were among the most exposed. Gas and fire incidents, falling heavy objects, and accidents involving cranes, hooks and wires together accounted for nearly 80% of all accidents recorded.
BILS attributed the toll to unsafe work practices, hazardous conditions, inadequate protective equipment, weak supervision and insufficient safety training, and has called for mandatory gas testing before work begins, a formal permit-to-work system, proper protective gear and regular emergency drills.
Those findings mirror a 2023 Human Rights Watch investigation into the industry, in which workers described being given inadequate protective equipment, training and tools — some said they resorted to wrapping shirts around their mouths against toxic fumes.
Investigators found workers were especially vulnerable inside confined spaces, where hazardous or flammable substances were not always properly identified before dismantling began.
The effects of Friday’s leak extended past the shipyard itself. Local fishermen said the smell from the facility was so strong that boats returning from sea with hilsa catches could not enter the canal beside the yard, forcing them to travel at least half a kilometre further to find somewhere to come ashore.
Government Promises a Probe
Finance and Planning Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, visiting CMCH on Friday afternoon to meet victims’ families and check on the injured, said a probe committee would be formed to investigate. “Action will be taken based on the findings of the committee.
There is no bias here; it is the government’s duty to conduct a thorough investigation and ascertain the facts,” he said, calling the incident “deeply unfortunate.”
Chowdhury said the Bangladesh Shipbreakers and Recyclers Association would provide Tk 10 lakh to each victim’s family, with the government also expected to contribute. An army team has been sent to the site to help stop the gas emissions, he added.
The minister said the current government has focused on improving industry compliance since taking office, pointing to the Hong Kong Convention-based grading system that certifies “green” shipbreaking yards.
“It is the government’s responsibility to determine if there were any compliance deficiencies, and if so, to take appropriate action,” he said.
