Bangladesh’s ageing shipbreaking yards are being converted into “green yards” to meet international certification and environmental standards. The upgrades are meant to bring modern recycling facilities, safer waste handling and tighter compliance, raising hopes that accidents and deaths would fall.
But the changes have done little to alter how ships are dismantled. Even at certified yards, workers still use many of the old cutting methods. Allegations of inadequate hazard checks, gas monitoring, training and personal protective equipment still persist. Workers continue to risk their lives after yards receive green certification.
The latest deaths came on Friday at Ferdous Steel Ship Recycling Industries in Sitakunda, Chattogram, where nine workers died after inhaling toxic hydrogen sulphide gas. In an earlier incident, seven workers were killed on September 7, 2024 in a gas explosion while cutting a ship at SN Corporation.
The repeated deaths raise questions about why the shift to green yards has done so little to improve workplace safety. They have also cast doubt on the clearances issued by the Department of Explosives and the Department of Environment before old ships are dismantled, as well as on inspections of hazardous spaces inside vessels.
According to the police outpost at Chattogram Medical College Hospital, the nine people killed in the latest incident were identified as Mohammad Mansur, 55; Mohammad Nasir Uddin, 51; Mohammad Abdul Alim Sujon, 36; Mohammad Rana Mia, 23; Habibur Rahman, 51; Palash Dash, 35; Sunny Dash, 23; and Mohammad Khokon Mia, 23.
Sub-inspector Ala Uddin of the CMCH police outpost said another worker, Sharif, died at the private National Hospital.
Local sources said no ship-cutting work was taking place at the yard on Friday. Workers were mainly cleaning the vessels that had been brought in for cutting.
That morning, the yard’s safety officer took several workers inside a vessel to check the cleaning work. Toxic gas spread through the space and the men collapsed. Workers waiting outside rushed in to rescue them, without protective equipment. They too were overcome and several of them fainted.
Agitated workers alleged none of the dead or injured had proper protective clothing. The yard also failed to give enough attention to personal safety and the safe use of machinery, they said. Despite its “green yard” status, much of the work still relies on traditional methods.
Witnesses said the gas also caused breathing difficulties and dizziness among people nearby, adding that the effects continued for hours after the accident.
The incident has raised a central question: how could a scrap ship entering a green yard after securing the required clearances still contain lethal levels of toxic gas?
Industry insiders said an old ship contains extensive pipework, tanks of various sizes, ballast tanks and numerous enclosed spaces. Sewage, water, fuel oil, food waste and other organic material can build up in these spaces over years and produce hydrogen sulphide and other toxic gases.
Officials at the Department of Explosives said the agency clears LNG carriers after inspecting areas linked mainly to explosion risks, such as the gas and fuel tanks and engine rooms, adding that the Department of Environment deals with other environmental issues. They contended that toxic gas can form after a ship reaches a yard. Waste and chemicals left inside the vessel can react while it sits idle, creating new hazards that may not have existed when the initial clearance was issued. Once a ship reaches a yard, the responsibility shifts to the yard operator, who must assess the risks and test for gas before workers begin each task.
Industry stakeholders argue the effectiveness of clearances based on inspections of only a few designated areas of a large ship also needs scrutiny. They say a proper risk assessment should cover every confined space and piece of equipment.
Friday’s accident began in the ship’s ballast water tank. The immediate question is whether workers tested the space for gas before entering it. Why they were allowed into a confined space that could contain toxic gas without adequate testing or protective equipment is now a central line of inquiry.
The rules require yards to identify hazards at every stage of cutting, cleaning and removing equipment from an old ship. Before workers enter a confined space, they must test gas levels, ensure proper ventilation, provide suitable personal protective equipment and have an emergency rescue plan in place. Initial accounts of Friday’s accident, however, suggest that workers entered the ship one after another without full protective equipment. The rescue attempt then exposed more workers to the same danger.
Safety and environmental specialists in the shipbreaking industry say better infrastructure and international certification do not, by themselves, make a yard safe. The way ships are dismantled must change as well.
Experts say each ship should undergo a separate risk assessment and carry an inventory of hazardous substances. Yards must monitor gas before anyone enters a confined space, train workers regularly and enforce the use of safety equipment. Without those measures, they say, green-yard certification cannot deliver its core purpose.
International pressure to modernise Bangladesh’s shipbreaking yards grew as poor working conditions and repeated accidents took a heavy toll. Bangladesh responded by moving to implement the Hong Kong Convention and brought the industry under the convention’s certification rules in June 2025.
The rules mandate that only approved green yards receive permission to import scrap ships. Yards must also comply with the Ship Breaking and Recycling Rules, 2011, international law and the 2009 Hong Kong Convention.
Sixty-three countries adopted the Hong Kong Convention at a diplomatic conference in Hong Kong, China, back in 2009. The International Maritime Organization, its member states, non-governmental organisations and parties to the Basel Convention were involved in drafting the agreement.
However, industry workers and insiders say international certification and modern infrastructure have done little to improve safety management at many of the shipbreaking yards in Bangladesh. Some have built green-yard facilities while continuing to dismantle ships in much the same way as before. Safety practices and attitudes towards workers have also changed little.
Labour law makes shipyard owners responsible for workers’ safety. It also requires every yard to form a six-member safety committee, with three representatives from the owner and three from the workforce. The committee must meet at least once a month. Its responsibilities include ensuring workers have personal protection, overseeing the use of safety equipment, reviewing workplace safety and ensuring workers are paid according to the hours they work.
But workers say such arrangements have been largely ineffective. Some yards maintain safety measures on paper but rarely enforce them. They also allege that safety committees operating in one or two yards are shown as evidence that the system works across the sector.
Muhammad Ali Shahin, a senior official at the private development agency YPSA, said the latest Sitakunda accident showed why gas testing must be routine.
“Old LNG or oil tankers can contain different harmful gases in different parts of the vessel. The gases must be removed completely, or workers must test the space with a gas monitor before entering. No one should go in if the reading is hazardous. Work can start only after the space is confirmed safe,” Shahin told Bonik Barta. “The key question now is whether proper gas tests were carried out at Ferdous Steel Ship Recycling Industries.”
Yards must modernise their working methods as well as their infrastructure, Shahin added. Both workers and officials also need separate training on protective clothing, ship-cutting machinery and the safety practices required under international green-yard standards.
Md Nazmul Islam, acting secretary of the Bangladesh Ship Breakers and Recyclers Association (BSBRA), told Bonik Barta that the industry was shocked by the deaths and that a five-member committee has been formed to investigate the accident.
He added: “Each dead worker’s family has received BDT 1 million in compensation. Workers at green yards must wear protective clothing, follow safety procedures and handle machinery properly. The benefits of green-yard certification can’t be realised without those safeguards.”
S M Shakhawat Hosain, assistant director of the Department of Explosives, said the vessel MV Rasi had mainly carried LNG. Hydrogen sulphide likely formed in septic tanks or stagnant water on the ship, he said, adding that exposure to the gas can be fatal within minutes.
The department inspected the vessel’s LPG tanks, engine room and oil tanks in June and July last year before issuing its certificate, Hosain told Bonik Barta. It also worked with the Department of Environment to check for hazardous waste and gases before clearance was granted.
Yet the accident occurred in the ballast tank, which holds water to control the vessel’s balance, about a year after the clearance was issued. Hosain said the gas may have formed when material in the tank reacted with sewage, food waste or other substances on board.
Doctors said hydrogen sulphide can form in septic tanks, drains and stagnant water when bacteria break down organic matter without oxygen. The gas is highly toxic and has a distinctive rotten-egg smell. When inhaled, it interferes with the body’s ability to absorb oxygen. Heavy exposure can cause rapid loss of consciousness, followed by breathing failure, fluid in the lungs and impaired heart function. Death can occur within minutes.
Srirup Majumder, assistant director (region) at the Chattogram Department of Environment, told Bonik Barta: “At its 529th meeting in Dhaka on August 12, 2025, the Department of Environment recommended issuing clearance for the South Korean-flagged MV Rasi. Before that meeting, officials inspected the vessel on site in July and found no heavy or toxic waste. The yard was then given an SRP plan, which sets out when and which parts of the vessel are to be cut.”
Majumder said the main aim of converting shipyards into green yards under the Hong Kong Convention was to improve working conditions, prevent worker deaths and replace manual shipbreaking with more modern, mechanised methods. But some yards continue to use old techniques, often without disclosure, resulting in repeated deaths and injuries. Monitoring is being tightened, he said.
Before the convention took effect on June 26 last year, 40 to 50 yards regularly imported scrap ships, according to BSBRA data. Twenty-five yards in Sitakunda had been converted into green yards by July 2026, with another six undergoing the process. The number is expected to reach 31 this year.
MV Rasi, IMO number 9176008, was built in South Korea in 2000. The roughly 280-metre vessel operated for years as an LNG carrier, meaning its tanks, pipelines and compartments could have retained LNG-related gases, oil, sludge or other hazardous material.
The minutes of the 529th meeting set several conditions for dismantling the vessel, including the safe handling of hazardous waste, storage of oily waste, controlled entry into confined spaces, gas monitoring and confirmation that the vessel was “safe for hot work”.
No government agency, however, monitored whether those conditions were actually followed.
Repeated calls to Ferdous Wahid, managing director of Ferdous Steel Recycling Industries, went unanswered.