Fire at ship breaking yard kills 11 workers in Pakistan

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan

At least 11 laborers were killed and 60 others were injured when a fire broke out inside an oil tanker at a ship breaking yard in southeastern Pakistan Tuesday, according to police and health officials.

The ship breaking yard at Gadani, a coastal village located some 65 kilometers (40 miles) to the west of Karachi city, is considered one of the biggest of its kind in Asia, where disused ships from all around the world come to be dismantled for their steel and other spare parts.

Zulfikar Ali Shah, the deputy commissioner of Labella district, in which Gaddani town falls, told Anadolu Agency that three more injured succumbed to their wounds at the hospital, raising the death toll from eight to 11.

Shah said all the trapped laborers appeared to have been rescued and a final assessment of the impact will come after the fire has been put out.

Many workers with serious burns injuries were shifted to hospitals in Karachi. Dr. Ahmer Ali Baran at the Civil Hospital in Karachi told Anadolu Agency that six of the injured had suffered “100 percent burns” and their chances of survival were slim. Baran added that 12 others remained in serious condition at the hospital.

According to preliminary reports, the fire broke out after a series of gas cylinder blasts inside the tanker.

Safety standards at the ship breaking yard are known to be inadequate. A local worker, Ghulam Nabi, was quoted by Dunya television as saying: "Majority of laborers work here even without helmets and safety jackets.

"There are no proper firefighting arrangements here as you have to call ambulances and fire engines all the way from Karachi in case of an accident."

Ahmad Baluch, another eyewitness, told the media the blasts inside the ship were so huge that several laborers were tossed into the air and made a hard fall to the ground.