Bangladesh breakers’ yards demolish more than one-third of the world’s end-of-life ships but the country has long been associated with some of the worst practices in the business.
There are allegations of child labour, human rights violations, exploitation and the routine flouting of national regulations on importing hazardous waste.
The NGO Shipbreaking Platform estimates the 2016 death toll at Bangladeshi yards as 19, with 11 severe injuries, and describes the fatality rate as “shockingly high”.
But
