Campaign group NGO Shipbreaking Platform has highlighted a pressing need to improve safety as the death toll rises at South Asian ship recyclers.

Its first-quarter report tallied two fatalities in Pakistan among a total of eight accidents in the region to 31 March.

“As the sector suffers from a serious lack of transparency, many incidents likely go unreported, particularly in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, where authorities and industry fail to publish data,” the organisation said.