Bangladesh Fines Shipbreaking Yard $4,000 After Nine Gas Deaths

Bangladesh's Department of Environment has fined Ferdous Steel Ship Recycling Industries Tk500,000, about $4,000, for operating without a valid environmental clearance, days after nine workers died in a toxic gas accident at the ship recycling yard.

The fine was imposed after a hearing at the department's Chittagong regional office on 19 August, five days after the accident. The company's environmental clearance had expired in 2024 and had not been renewed. Ferdous Steel has seven working days to pay, and the yard has been ordered to stop all shipbreaking work until the clearance is renewed. The owner's representative admitted the violation during the hearing.

The environmental breach is separate from the cause of the deaths, but it was found during an inspection carried out after the accident and is the first penalty reported against the yard.

The accident happened on 14 August at about 08:30 at the Ferdous Steel yard in Sitakunda, Chattogram. Workers cutting up the vessel Rasi were exposed to toxic gas inside a ballast tank. Nine died and several others were injured. An inspection later detected hydrogen sulfide at 10.8 parts per million inside the vessel, suggesting the gas had accumulated in the enclosed space. A subsequent inspection by the Fire Service found methane, carbon dioxide and ammonia in two compartments and did not detect hydrogen sulfide. The exact reason for the gas buildup has not been established.

The vessel had been out of service and on the beach for more than a year. Inspectors found black sludge in three of its ballast tanks, and water samples have been sent to a chemical laboratory. Hydrogen sulfide can form when organic material breaks down without oxygen, a known danger in confined spaces where wastewater or other organic material is present.

The Bangladesh Ship Recycling Board ordered operations halted on 14 August. Director general Shafiul Alam Talukder said the suspension would remain until authorities review inspection and investigation reports, and that the yard could stay closed if investigators find negligence. Three committees have been formed to investigate, by the Industries Ministry, the Chattogram district administration and the recycling board, and the shipping ministry has launched a formal investigation. As of 15 August police had not filed a case; Moinul Islam, officer in charge of Sitakunda Police Station, said no complaint had been received from the victims' families. A contractor has been hired to remove remaining hazards from the ballast tanks.