Sometimes limbs get cut with steel” or “you die in one graveyard and go to another”. That is graveyard humour among migrant Oriya and Bengali workers at Alang. Asbestosis is just one of the hazards that workers face daily at the Alang shipbreaking yard. The graveyard of ships is also a death trap for the thousands of workers who toil with bare hands, without face masks or protective clothing, for Rs 60 per day. Working in eight or 10 hour shifts, they die in explosions, inhale toxic gases every day, fall to death or end up crippled, or contract diseases in sub-human conditions.

Till August 31, 2006, 19 workers had died in explosions aboard ships in various stages of being broken down. The blasts occur for various reasons: LPG cylinder leaks, inflammable oil residue, or sealed chambers that explode when handled by untrained hands.

The shipbreakers do not disclose the nature of contents in the ships even if there is considerable residue of hazardous chemicals, inflammable material or oil. Sometimes even the ‘mukadams’ or gang-leaders are kept in the dark. So, while skilled workers like gas-cutters still get some protective gear, unskilled and semi-skilled workers climb aboard the massive ships usually with a prayer on their lips and little else.

Every Tuesday, chest physician P.K. Bansal who visits the Red Cross Society Hospital, Alang, gets about 20 new patients. “Due to the working conditions, they are exposed to metallic dust and other particles. The workers suffer from acute bronchitis, allergic bronchitis, bronchial asthma and tuberculosis. In the long run the diseases become fatal,” he says.

... contd.