SUVARNA SWARAJYA

scrapped

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SN Corporation fined after fatal explosion and has to halt operations for three months

The ship recycling facility SN Corporation has been ordered to pay $5,856 to the families of six workers who were killed in the explosion aboard the 'Swarajya'. Bangladesh’s Ministry of Industries ordered the ship recycler to pay a compensation in the form of 12 months of salary and all medical costs to six other workers who were seriously injured. A report by an investigative committee that was established to investigate the explosion blamed it on safety violations, operational misconduct, and a failure to ensure safe working conditionss, which has has cost the ship recycler an additional $21,740 in fines. The SN Corporation has been ordered to halt all operations at its ship recycling facilities for a three-month period. The Ministry released a 20-point suggestion list to prevent similar incidents in the future. Among the recommendations were safety measures such as forbidding the simultaneous operation of hot and cold work, ensuring sufficient ventilation while cutting tanks, engine rooms, and pump rooms, and making sure these areas are gas-free before issuing hot work permits. The recycler was also instructed to ensure that proper firefighting and rescue arrangements were in place when working on high-risk areas of ships. The SN Corporation was urged to recruit trained, experienced workers, and ensure that they strictly follow the ship cutting plan.

Explosion, which killed six workers, exposed lack of adequate international and national regulations

The explosion on the 'Suvarna Swarajya' on Sep 7 in Bangladesh exposed the lack of adequate international and national regulations, oversight, and labour rights protection in the shipbreaking industry, said the Human Rights Watch and the NGO Shipbreaking Platform on Sep 18. The accident at the SN Corporation’s shipbreaking yards left six workers dead and four critically injured. The tanker was owned by the Shipping Corporation of India, then sold in March 2023 to Last Voyage DMCC and then in May to the SN Corporation for dismantling, despite the company’s poor health and safety record, with at least 14 deaths and 22 injuries since 2010 and before the sale. The explosion occurred in the Unit-2 yard of SN Corporation, a few months after Nippon Kaiji Kyokai certified the yard under the requirements of the International Maritime Organisation’s Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships. However, the HRW, the NGO Shipbreaking Platform and other rights and environmental organisations have raised concerns that the Convention provides for weak environmental and safety standards. Following the explosion, the Bangladesh authorities indefinitely shut down the yard, halted all work on the 'Suvarna Swarajya,'and opened an official investigation into the accident. Report with photo: https://www.newagebd.net/post/human-rights/245535/ship-explosion-exposes-regulatory-failures-in-bangladesh-hrw

Broken up

Broken up at Chittagong 04/2024 https://www.tbsnews.net/bangladesh/12-workers-burnt-chattogram-shipyard-explosion-935696