"The Parallel Life" (by adnan)

“CAUTION – DANGER OF LIFE” a notice from a strip down ship laid on soil of the ship breaking yard. Ironical like this notice, the symbol of danger hangs like omen on the heads of the workers. Frequent accidents cause deaths and have occurred due to lack of safety measures in cutting the ship steel. Early on 2009 the High Court of Bangladesh ordered the government to suspend operations in all ship-breaking yards, unless they obtained environmental clearance within two weeks. The Court also directed the shipyard authorities to ensure safe working conditions for the workers. Yet, the work is going on as usual.

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 02:55:35 +0000

“CAUTION – DANGER OF LIFE” a notice from a strip down ship laid on soil of the ship breaking yard. Ironical like this notice, the symbol of danger hangs like omen on the heads of the workers. Frequent accidents cause deaths and have occurred due to lack of safety measures in cutting the ship steel. Early on 2009 the High Court of Bangladesh ordered the government to suspend operations in all ship-breaking yards, unless they obtained environmental clearance within two weeks. The Court also directed the shipyard authorities to ensure safe working conditions for the workers. Yet, the work is going on as usual.
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An abandoned ship lies on the shore of the ship breaking yard awaiting its turn to be cut into pieces by workers. The explosion of the Iranian tanker TT Dena on 31st May 2000 alone is said to have caused 50 deaths. To this toll, the thousands of cases of irreversible diseases which have occurred and will continue to occur due to the toxic materials that are handled and inhaled without any precautions or protective gear need to be considered.

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 02:57:30 +0000

An abandoned ship lies on the shore of the ship breaking yard awaiting its turn to be cut into pieces by workers. The explosion of the Iranian tanker TT Dena on 31st May 2000 alone is said to have caused 50 deaths. To this toll, the thousands of cases of irreversible diseases which have occurred and will continue to occur due to the toxic materials that are handled and inhaled without any precautions or protective gear need to be considered.
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Sujan works as helper of a cutter. But, he doesn’t want to be a cutter. “I will make enough money from here to start a barber shop. I don’t have to do hard labour like here in my shop”, he says. Most workers come like Sujan came with dreams come with a better life, yet many leave with marks for lifetime. The children work mainly as gas cutters assistants and move small iron pieces from one place to another. They either work in the yard from sunrise to sunset or do the night shift. On average they receive 50-60 taka a day for their efforts. There are no educational or recreational facilities.

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 02:58:46 +0000

Sujan works as helper of a cutter. But, he doesn’t want to be a cutter. “I will make enough money from here to start a barber shop. I don’t have to do hard labour like here in my shop”, he says. Most workers come like Sujan came with dreams come with a better life, yet many leave with marks for lifetime. The children work mainly as gas cutters assistants and move small iron pieces from one place to another. They either work in the yard from sunrise to sunset or do the night shift. On average they receive 50-60 taka a day for their efforts. There are no educational or recreational facilities.
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Latifa helps her husband to drink water. Her husbands, Bahadur Sirkar, 38, was injured when an iron plate he was loading onto a truck, fall down and cut the thumb on his left hand and broke his left leg. Incidents like this are a daily occurrence in the ship breaking yard.

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 03:00:12 +0000

Latifa helps her husband to drink water. Her husbands, Bahadur Sirkar, 38, was injured when an iron plate he was loading onto a truck, fall down and cut the thumb on his left hand and broke his left leg. Incidents like this are a daily occurrence in the ship breaking yard.
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The ominous sign of a ship that used to be. A ship usually remained on the beach for some two to three months, the time it takes an army of workers to cut a medium sized ship down to pieces in that time. The marking of a invisible ship reminds of the marking it left on the workers who subsided it.

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 03:00:53 +0000

The ominous sign of a ship that used to be. A ship usually remained on the beach for some two to three months, the time it takes an army of workers to cut a medium sized ship down to pieces in that time. The marking of a invisible ship reminds of the marking it left on the workers who subsided it.
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‘I don’t know what I can do for living now, may be, I will grow crops on ranted land again, something what I used to do before I went to ship breaking yard to work’. Says Bahadur, who can no longer work in the yard what his injures. When a worker becomes disabled by a major accident, he gets a maximum of 10 to 15 thousand taka (1 USD=71 taka) and forced back to his home district. In most cases a worker will only get transportation costs to go back to their home district.

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 03:02:03 +0000

‘I don’t know what I can do for living now, may be, I will grow crops on ranted land again, something what I used to do before I went to ship breaking yard to work’. Says Bahadur, who can no longer work in the yard what his injures. When a worker becomes disabled by a major accident, he gets a maximum of 10 to 15 thousand taka (1 USD=71 taka) and forced back to his home district. In most cases a worker will only get transportation costs to go back to their home district.
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Some 11 years ago, an iron plate fell on Fakir Pramanik from the shoulders of other workers, resulting into amputating of his left foot. After that, he learnt how to walk with an artificial leg and now he sell papers to bazaars in different villages riding a bicycle.

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 03:03:18 +0000

Some 11 years ago, an iron plate fell on Fakir Pramanik from the shoulders of other workers, resulting into amputating of his left foot. After that, he learnt how to walk with an artificial leg and now he sell papers to bazaars in different villages riding a bicycle.
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The Department of Environment reported that none of some 36 ship-breaking yards, which were identified as category Red [extremely dangerous], had taken or applied for environmental clearance from the government. The High Court had also ordered that no ship would enter Bangladesh territory for breaking without cleaning its hazardous materials at source or outside the territory.

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 03:04:22 +0000

The Department of Environment reported that none of some 36 ship-breaking yards, which were identified as category Red [extremely dangerous], had taken or applied for environmental clearance from the government. The High Court had also ordered that no ship would enter Bangladesh territory for breaking without cleaning its hazardous materials at source or outside the territory.
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Golapi Begum lost her husband 12 years ago in an accident in the ship breaking yard in Bangladesh. She can’t remember exactly how her husband died. But she still keeps the top cover of the coffin that the dead body of her husband brought in from the ship breaking yard to her village. When a worker is killed in an accident, the contractor, who is responsible for the workers, will only pay the costs of sending the body back to the victim’s family and arranging for their burial. Her only son now works in ship breaking yard.

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 03:04:58 +0000

Golapi Begum lost her husband 12 years ago in an accident in the ship breaking yard in Bangladesh. She can’t remember exactly how her husband died. But she still keeps the top cover of the coffin that the dead body of her husband brought in from the ship breaking yard to her village. When a worker is killed in an accident, the contractor, who is responsible for the workers, will only pay the costs of sending the body back to the victim’s family and arranging for their burial. Her only son now works in ship breaking yard.
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Some 30,000 workers are engaged in ship scrapping in Chittagong’s Sitakunda, which houses the second largest ship breaking largest after China. A survey conducted by two internationally reputed organizations, Greenpeace and International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), said that on average at least one worker is injured a day and one dies a week.

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 03:05:32 +0000

Some 30,000 workers are engaged in ship scrapping in Chittagong’s Sitakunda, which houses the second largest ship breaking largest after China. A survey conducted by two internationally reputed organizations, Greenpeace and International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), said that on average at least one worker is injured a day and one dies a week.
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“We cut ships, we dismantle ships, we break ships…huge ships. Do you want to see my strength?” says Jahir, a ship breaking labour shows off his muscles. Workers are not aware of hazards to which they are exposed. The overwhelming majority of workers wear no protective gear and many of them work barefoot. There is hardly any testing system for the use of cranes, lifting machinery or a motorized pulley. The yards re-use ropes and chains recovered from the broken ships without testing and examining their strength. There is no marking system of loading capacity of the chains of cranes and other lifting machineries.

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 03:06:38 +0000

“We cut ships, we dismantle ships, we break ships…huge ships. Do you want to see my strength?” says Jahir, a ship breaking labour shows off his muscles. Workers are not aware of hazards to which they are exposed. The overwhelming majority of workers wear no protective gear and many of them work barefoot. There is hardly any testing system for the use of cranes, lifting machinery or a motorized pulley. The yards re-use ropes and chains recovered from the broken ships without testing and examining their strength. There is no marking system of loading capacity of the chains of cranes and other lifting machineries.
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UMA, a ship formerly owned by the Norwegian company Odfjell, now is in its last destination...a ship breaking yard in Bangladesh, awaiting its turn. “The Human Cost of Breaking Ships”, a report published in December 2008 said at least 1,000 workers died in the last 20 years in Bangladesh’s ship-breaking yards. The figures do not include the deaths from diseases caused by toxic fumes and materials workers are exposed to all the time. It seems like nobody really cares: ship breaking workers are easily replaceable to the yard owners: if one is lost they know another 10 is waiting to replace him due to the lack of work. The Government collects the taxes and turns a blind eye.

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 03:07:12 +0000

UMA, a ship formerly owned by the Norwegian company Odfjell, now is in its last destination...a ship breaking yard in Bangladesh, awaiting its turn. “The Human Cost of Breaking Ships”, a report published in December 2008 said at least 1,000 workers died in the last 20 years in Bangladesh’s ship-breaking yards. The figures do not include the deaths from diseases caused by toxic fumes and materials workers are exposed to all the time. It seems like nobody really cares: ship breaking workers are easily replaceable to the yard owners: if one is lost they know another 10 is waiting to replace him due to the lack of work. The Government collects the taxes and turns a blind eye.
view full-size image