CHATTOGRAM — At least Nine workers were killed and more than a dozen others injured after toxic gas leaked from a tank aboard a scrap LNG vessel at Ferdous Steel Ship Recycling Industries in Sitakunda, Chattogram, on Friday, raising fresh concerns over safety standards in Bangladesh’s ship-recycling industry.
The incident occurred at around 9 a.m. in the coastal Bhatiari area. Initial reports put the death toll at three, but it rose as rescuers recovered more workers and critically ill victims were taken to hospitals.
Ferdous Steel project officer Md Shahin confirmed nine deaths. At least 14 others were reported injured, with some initially taken to BSBA Hospital in Bhatiari before being transferred to Chattogram Medical College Hospital (CMCH).
Four of the dead were initially identified as Sani Jaldas, 22; Palash Jaldas, 27; and brothers Mansur Ali, 40, and Nasir Uddin, 38. All were residents of Bhatiari.
Toxic gas spread from scrap LNG vessel
Yard manager Mohammad Yusuf said the facility was officially closed for the weekly holiday when the incident occurred.
“Today is Friday, so the yard is closed,” Yusuf said while describing the incident. He said toxic exposure occurred after a leak developed in a tank aboard the scrap LNG vessel.
Other accounts indicated workers were carrying out dismantling-related work when a gas pipeline was accidentally cut, releasing toxic fumes. The precise sequence of events and chemical composition of the gas had not been officially established by Friday afternoon.
A fisherman told The Voice that the fumes were so strong that boats returning from the sea could not approach the canal beside the yard and had to travel about half a kilometer farther to reach shore.
Fire Service personnel entered the vessel after receiving an emergency call and began searching for workers.
Taufiqul Islam, assistant director of the Chattogram Fire Service, said the vessel had previously carried liquefied natural gas and that such ships must undergo proper gas-free procedures before dismantling.
“The ship must be made gas-free before it is cut,” Islam said Friday at the accident scene.
He blamed an apparent failure to eliminate the hazard before dismantling began.
“The accident occurred because the factory authorities started dismantling the ship without rendering the tanks gas-free, while safety measures for the workers there were very poor,” he said.
Six brought dead to CMCH
Dr. Ishtiaq Rahman, the physician on duty at CMCH, said seven people from the yard were brought to the hospital in two groups.
“Six of them were brought dead,” Rahman said Friday while giving an update from the hospital. “Their bodies have been kept at the morgue. The other person is receiving treatment.”
Sitakunda Police Station Inspector (Investigation) Mohammad Alamgir said another two bodies remained at the accident site, bringing the confirmed death toll to eight.
With several workers injured, the casualty figures could change as treatment continues.
Questions over safety and Friday work
The accident has raised questions about why hazardous dismantling work was apparently taking place when the yard was officially closed.
A representative of the yard owner, Mohammad Mohiuddin, told The Voice that workers had been exposed to toxic gas and that he had been informed the incident involved negligence. He said he was away from the yard and would provide details after reaching the site.
Investigators are expected to examine who authorized the work, whether the vessel had been certified gas-free and whether workers had adequate protective equipment, gas-detection systems and emergency support.
The same Ferdous Steel facility was the scene of another serious accident on September 16 last year, when eight workers suffered burn injuries in an oil-tanker explosion.
Elsewhere in Sitakunda, an explosion at the SN Corporation shipbreaking yard on September 7, 2024, injured 12 workers, six of whom later died.
Deaths continue despite international safety regime
Friday’s disaster comes more than a year after the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships entered into force on June 26, 2025.
Bangladesh is a party to the convention, which requires authorized recycling facilities to maintain plans covering worker safety, training, emergency preparedness, hazardous materials and environmental protection. Vessel-specific recycling plans are also required before dismantling.
Despite the industry’s transition toward internationally certified “green” ship recycling, serious accidents have continued.
A Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS) report found at least 28 shipbreaking accidents between January and June 2026, killing three workers, seriously injuring 10 and leaving another 15 moderately injured. Around 80 percent involved falling heavy objects, cranes and wires, or gas explosions and fires.
BILS recorded seven shipbreaking deaths in 2024 and four in 2025. Friday’s nine fatalities at a single yard therefore exceed the total number of deaths the organization recorded across the industry in either of those years.
‘Most of these accidents are preventable’
Labor advocates have repeatedly argued that many shipbreaking deaths result from inadequate enforcement rather than unavoidable industrial hazards.
“Most of these accidents are preventable,” Fazlul Kabir Mintu, a member of the shipbreaking workers’ trade union forum, told The Voice, adding, “They usually occur because basic safety procedures are either ignored or poorly enforced.”
Muhammad Ali Shahin, a shipbreaking specialist and head of advocacy at Young Power in Social Action, also emphasized enforcement when responding to the BILS findings in July.
“Effective enforcement, continuous monitoring, and a strong safety culture are essential to preventing accidents and protecting both workers and the environment,” Shahin said.
The Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments has said serious accidents are investigated under existing law, while officials have also cited increased inspections and worker-safety awareness programs.
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