BRUSSELS, Nov 19: The dismantling of hundreds of old ships in South Asia is polluting coastal areas, threatening ecosystems and subjecting workers to unsafe, deplorable conditions, a top EU official said on Wednesday.

EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas called for better procedures and checks on European-owned retired oil tankers and other merchant vessels that are sent to breakup yards in South Asia to make sure the scrapping is done safely.

He also proposed that the European Union offer India, Pakistan and Bangladesh — where most of the world's breakup yards are located — aid and technical assistance to minimise the environmental risks related to the dismantling of the old ships.

“The problem of ship dismantling remains acute,” Dimas told reporters. “Workers in South Asia are being exploited and their lives put at risk working in deplorable conditions, while coastal areas are being polluted and ecosystems threatened.”The European Commission said new rules are urgently needed because soon-to-be banned single-hull oil tankers are now being phased out and sent to graveyards in South Asia. They said some 800 such tankers are set to retire in the coming years.

Oil companies are being forced by the EU and the United States to replace single-hull tankers with double hulls in the wake of recent oil spills that caused widespread damage to the environment.

The EU executive said new rules would ensure European-based and -owned ships that are retired and dismantled in South Asia are done so under the highest possible safety standards. Many ships are sent to the region because it's relatively inexpensive and EU nations no longer have scrapping yards of their own.

New EU rules would include certification and mandatory inventories of hazardous materials aboard ships and ensure that retired warships from EU countries are dismantled under more rigorous supervision.

Dimas also is pushing for better international standards to prevent toxic waste seeping from aging ships, many of which are left to rust near ship-breaking yards across Asia.—AP