GADANI: Just a day after the death of a young man working at one of the ship-breaking yards in Gadani, five labourers burnt to death when a fire erupted inside a ship at another yard on Monday morning.

All the five workers hailed from Swat.

This time the incident occurred in yard no 60, which belongs to Deewan Rizwan Farooqui, chairman of the Pakistan Ship-Breaking Association.

It was around 10am. The men had just taken a short break for tea being served to everyone inside the depths of the metal giant they were dismantling when the cork underlayment installed for insulation of the gas tanks suddenly caught fire, which grew out of control within seconds.

Naimat Shah, Mohammad Sabir, Ali Jan, Mohammad Saeed and Saeed Khan were hired to pick up the scrap from the ship, a liquified petroleum gas (LPG) tanker, so that it didn’t collect in the front or get in the way of other workers. “The ship is an LPG tanker. It had plenty of cork and foam insulation between its tanks,” said Rahim Khan, who drives a forklift in the same yard.

“There were some 60 people working on the ship at the time. All got caught up in the flames. Luckily, we were able to rescue them from the seaside in the life raft of the same ship lying handy,” he said.

“It is the second time that there has been a fire in the same ship. The first time was just a couple of weeks ago,” he added.


Ship-breaking yard owner among five booked


This time it was believed for a while that there were no casualties until the workers realised that five men were missing.

“The iron sheets cut from the ship had to be laid on the shipyard ground for the fire tenders to drive over them in order to be able to reach close to the burning vessel. After the fire was extinguished, three [bodies] were found in the folds of the ship upstairs and two much later at the bottom. It was so dark and there was still so much smoke inside, we were blinded by it. But then we found them. The bodies are burnt beyond recognition,” said Usman Khan, who had come to help from another ship-breaking yard, his face and clothes black from soot.

The shipyard also has Deewan Rizwan’s office housed in an annexe. “He was right here when it all happened, ordering us to keep going, and hurry it up as they have had to bear too many losses due to the break in work after the MT Aces inferno tragedy of Nov 1 in which 26 workers died. Anyway, he has been taken into custody now,” said Usman.

According to the National Trade Union Federation, Deewan and four others have been booked under Sections 304 (qatl-i-amd liable to qisas), 322 (qatl bis-sabab liable to diyat), 287 (negligent conduct with respect to machinery) and 34 (with common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The workers said the LPG tanker was beached some three months ago and the more time it took in dismantling it, the more it cost the ship breaker. “The cutting of metal is only carried out after the cork insulation has been removed because it is inflammable, which was not happening here,” said Saleem Mohammad, mourning the loss of his co-workers in the little hospital up ahead on the broken road where the charred bodies were shifted.

“Earlier, when a gas cylinder burst during work in the same ship, I was laid off for nine days as I was blamed for being careless. I was not paid a single paisa during this time and my friends here bought me food, otherwise I would have starved to death.”

Saleem said he had finally decided to leave Gadani for good. “I can’t work here under these conditions. This time it is them, the next it could be my charred or crushed body lying inside,” he added.

However, another worker lashed out at his co-workers following the tragedy. “The owners don’t take any precautionary measure because of my co-workers. There is just no unity among us. When we go on strike until conditions improve, they tell the owners that they are willing to work in our place. Things in Gadani will never improve. Workers will keep on dying if this keeps on happening. Life has no value here,” he said.

Balochistan CM seeks report

Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri has expressed deep sorrow and grief over the deaths and sought report about the repeated fire incidents in the ship, adds our staff reporter from Quetta.

He said all institutions including ship breakers should work with responsibility to prevent recurrence of such tragic incidents in future. “Nobody would be allowed to play with the lives of poor labourers,” said Mr Zehri.

He directed officials concerned to submit the investigation report of the Nov 1 Gadani carnage that claimed 27 lives. “Strict legal action would be taken against those who were found responsible for the tragic incident,” he warned and summoned a high-level meeting on Tuesday to take up the Gadani issue.

He said that best available health facilities be given to the injured labourers.

Published in Dawn January 10th, 2017

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