HUB - At least five workers succumbed to burn injuries and six were reportedly missing when an inferno erupted in liquefied petroleum gas carrier at Gadani Ship Breaking Yard yesterday

According to preliminary reports, an LPG ship that anchored at Gadani Ship Breaking Yard for scrap proclivity caught a sudden fire when 25 labourers were busy in their work. The ship breaking yard located at Gadani, a tehsil of district Lasbela, is considered the second largest ship breaking yard in Asia.

Soon after the inferno, some workers jumped out of the ship to save their lives while 11 labourers got stranded inside.

Fire brigades, ambulances and rescue teams were called that evacuated three extremely scorched bodies while another two workers were evacuated with severe burnt injuries that succumbed to injuries on their way to hospital. The rescue teams are still trying to find the six missing workers.

Lasbela Deputy Commissioner Zulfiqar Shah Hashmi ordered arrest of the owner of the LPG ship and Ship Breaking Yard Association ex-chairman Dewan Rizwan and registration of an FIR against them.

Expressing dismay over the inferno incident which claimed precious human lives, Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri directed the authorities to submit a report and issued a directive for ensuring precautionary measures at the ship breaking yard. The instructions must be complied with at all cost, said the chief minister.

The same ship also escaped a fire incident a few days back, but no casualty was reported. Earlier, a horrific inferno caught fire after a cylinder blast in November in a scrap oil tanker, which took scores of labourers’ lives and injured dozens. Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri had suspended high officials over negligence. He had also ordered the authorities to take precautionary measures before opening the ship breaking yard for scrap activities.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had also formed a committee comprising senators. The committee had presented its report to the PM after visiting the ship and holding meetings with the authorities concerned.

Despite tall claims of taking safety measures, no proper arrangements have been made and the labourers of the country are still unsafe. Almost every day such terrible incidents hit the headlines, but claims and pledges from those at the helm of affairs are not materialised.