Workers breaking up ships, Gadani ship-breaking yard, located across a 10 km long beachfront, Balochistan, Pakistan.
Gadani ship-breaking yard is the world's third largest ship breaking yard located across a 10 km long beachfront at Gadani, Balochistan Province, Pakistan. Located about 40 km northwest of Karachi, it consists of 132 privately owned ship-breaking plots. More than one million tons of steel is salvaged per year, most of which is sold domestically. In the 1980s, Gadani was the largest ship-breaking yard in the world, with over 30,000 employees. However, competition from newer facilities in Alang, India and Chittagong, Bangladesh resulted in a significant reduction in output, with Gadani today producing less than one fifth of the scrap it produced in the 1980s. The recent reduction in taxes on scrap metal has led to a modest resurgence of output at Gadani, which now employs only 6,000 workers. The ship-breaking industry represents a major threat to the environment with polluting material such as asbestos, oil and other chemical wastes being spilled in the sea or on the shore. Workers are also exposed to major health hazards, wearing little protection gear and being in contact with toxic chemicals. On 1 November 2016, at least 14 workers were killed and 59 burned as a result of gas cylinder explosions on a ship being scrapped, the floating production storage and offloading oil tanker Aces (IMO number: 8021830, built 1982 as Mobil Flinders), causing a huge fire. Reportedly above 100 people were dismantling a tanker in the yard. Some 30 other workers were also reported missing. By November 2, 19 people were reported dead and the tanker was still on fire.
Size: 7360px × 4912px
Location: Gadani, Balochistan Province, Pakistan
Photo credit: © François-Olivier Dommergues / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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