At least eight employees of a shipyard located in Sitakunda, in southeastern Bangladesh, have lost their lives and more than a dozen have been injured due to a gas leak from a vessel, local authorities reported this Friday.
The head of Sitakunda, Fakhrul Islam, has confirmed this toll in statements to the newspaper "Dhaka Tribune" and detailed that there are another 14 injured employees, who are already receiving medical treatment at the Chittagong Medical University Hospital and other centers.
The authorities have already managed to identify five of the eight fatalities, who are between 25 and 55 years old and include two brothers.
The head of the local Fire Services, Al Mamun, explained that all of them were exposed to toxic gases while dismantling an old LNG carrier at the Ferdous Steel shipyard in Sitakunda, in the Chittagong district.
This shipbreaking yard is known as one of the largest in the world, stretching along about 20 kilometers of coastline in the Bay of Bengal, and has drawn criticism from parts of the international community due to its unsafe and environmentally harmful practices.
The Bangladeshi government has assured that it will launch an investigation to clarify the origin of what happened and that it will take action against those responsible.