A devastating explosion the day prior to this in the pump apartment of the ship MT Suvarna Swarajya, which was once being dismantled at SN Company Shipbreaking Yard in Chattogram’s Sitakunda upazila, claimed the lifetime of a safety supervisor. Eleven other workers and officers had been severely injured in the incident.
Seven of the injured, with 80-90% of their our bodies burned, are at demonstrate struggling with for his or her lives in the Famous Care Unit of Dhaka Medical College Properly being facility Burn Unit. Four others are receiving medicine at Chattogram Medical College Properly being facility.
Right here’s no longer potentially the most important such incident at SN Company. In accordance with records from the Young Vitality in Social Motion (YPSA), the shipbreaking yard has considered a series of deadly accidents over the final decade.
Between 2013 and 2023, six separate accidents at SN Company’s three shipbreaking fashions resulted in nine deaths and quite loads of injuries.
SN Company operates three yards in Sitakunda, named Unit-1, Unit-2, and Unit-3. In 2013, one worker was once killed, followed by three extra deaths in 2015 in separate incidents. Extra fatalities passed off in 2017, 2018, and 2020, every claiming one lifestyles.
Basically the most stylish deadly incident sooner than Saturday’s explosion was once in 2021, where two workers misplaced their lives. The day gone by’s explosion took aim at Unit-2, which had got Inexperienced Certification for compliance with global safety requirements in 2023.
In accordance with the explosion, the Ministry of Industry straight away suspended all operational actions at SN Company the day prior to this evening. The Department of Ambiance (DoE) followed swimsuit on the present time, suspending the Environmental Clearance Certificate of the yard and halting all shipbreaking actions for the MT Suvarna Swarajya.
The Chattogram District Administration has moreover shaped an eight-member committee to research the incident, with the advise anticipated within seven working days.
In accordance with a assertion, the Department of Ambiance, below the directive of Ambiance, Woodland, and Climate Swap Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan, launched that the yard had breached several prerequisites of its environmental clearance, and has demanded an explanation from SN Company within three working days as to why its operations must always no longer be completely shut down.
Preliminary investigations counsel quite loads of violations of environmental and safety requirements on the yard, contributing to the tragic explosion. Which potential that, each and each SN Company (Unit-2) and the MT Suvarna Swarajya shipbreaking operations were suspended till extra sight.
Pratap Chandra Biswas, extra secretary of the Ministry of Industry, confirmed that all forms of operations at SN Company were suspended till extra sight, reinforcing the govts stance on ensuring safety compliance at shipbreaking yards.
In addition to those measures, the Bangladesh Environmental Legal professionals Association (BELA) has issued a proper sight disturbing compensation for the victims and rehabilitation of the injured workers.
The admire known as for the suspension of all shipbreaking actions at SN Company and pressed for the fast provision of medical care, compensation for the households of the deceased, and rehabilitation of the injured workers.
BELA’s sight was once sent to quite loads of govt our bodies, including the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Ambiance, Forests and Climate Swap, the Ministry of Labor and Employment, and native authorities in Chattogram.
