‘They were demanding workplace safety just two days ago’

“Workplace safety and health measures are basic rights, not a privilege.” This was the demand of the workers of the country’s sole ship-breaking industry in Gadani at a protest held at the Karachi Press Club just this past Sunday.

Less than two days later, local and international media reported one of the worst industrial accidents in Pakistan’s history - at least 13 workers lost their lives and 70 suffered injuries in a series of explosions in Gadani, and the death toll is certain to rise over the coming days.

On Tuesday morning, an explosion occurred during work on an oil tanker ship that was being dismantled at the ship-breaking yard.

National Trade Union Federation secretary general Nasir Mansoor, who reached the site immediately after the explosion, said 170 workers were still trapped inside the yard surrounded by fire.

 “Most of the workers killed or injured were outside the tanker,” Mansoor told The News.

Witnesses said fire brigades and rescue teams did not reach the scene on time. The rescue operation was mainly carried out by the Edhi Foundation.

“We contacted federal port and shipping minister Hasil Bijenzo and after that Navy and Karachi Port Trust ships and helicopters arrived to douse the fire,” Mansoor maintained. “It a Baldia factory fire-like tragedy.”

The ship was beached at the breaking yard No. 54 owned by Saith Ghafoor, the workers told The News.

“The work on the ship started on Monday and the workers who had to resume it the next day slept in the ship,” a worker said.

Most of the injured workers were shifted to the Civil Hospital Karachi.

Gadani is located about 60 kilometres south-west of Karachi and falls in the Lasbela district of Balochistan on a 10-kilometre-long stretch of coast line. It is the largest ship-breaking yard in the world after Alang in India and Chittagong in Bangladesh.

Labour leaders said there were around 20,000 workers associated with this industry, where deaths of workers in accidents during work had become a regular occurrence mainly because of no safety arrangements.

“Hardly any one of them [the workers] is registered with the Employees Old-Age Benefits Institution and given social security and pension,” said Mansoor, who had organised the protest on Sunday.

“Workers at the ship breaking industry work in the absence of any safety measures including emergency fire-fighting response equipment and ambulances and cranes to rescue people trapped inside ships.”

The NTUF has announced a three-day strike of the ship-breaking industry and will organise a funeral prayer in absentia at the site.

Leaders of the trade union group will also address a press conference on Wednesday (today) at the Karachi Press Club to devise a strategy for the protest against the government’s failure to protect the lives of the workers there.

Expressing their shock and grief over the mishap, the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan have demanded that the Balochistan government should ensure the provision of proper health and safety facilities to all ship-breaking yard workers.

In a statement, Piler executive director Karamat Ali deplored the working conditions for the workers at the yard in Gadani. He noted that despite various accidents in the past, no health- and safety-related arrangements had been made.

Piler has demanded the provincial government to ensure provision of all types of emergency, relief and medical services at the yard on a permanent basis.

Asad Iqbal Butt, the HRCP vice-chairperson, said the workers of the ship-breaking yard suffered because of poor safety standards and unregulated working conditions which led to deaths and injuries.

Bilawal expresses grief

Pakistan People’s Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has expressed grief over the ship-breaking yard tragedy.

In a press statement, the PPP chairman has asked the Sindh government to launch a rapid rescue operation to reduce loss of lives.