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Ships to be scrapped are bought by cash-buyers from countries like St Kitts and Nevis, Comoros, Palau offering “last voyage” packages, said the NGO Platform, which often hides their original flags.

According to the Platform data from last year, a worker named Biddut, 43, fell from a height of 10 feet and got injured on June 15 while working on a Greek ship called Salamis, owned by the Polys Haji-Ioannou Group.

Several workers cutting South Korean ships owned by the Sinokor company sustained injuries or died last year. On September 19, a worker called Nazam Uddin, 33, died after falling from a Sinokor-owned ship called Adriatic Energy. He worked at the NB Steel shipyard.

On April 1, a worker named Babul, 45, was injured when using a cutting machine to dismantle Caribbean Energy, also of Sinokor; on November 10, Toha, 25 fell from a height and got injured while cutting the company’s Grace Energy at Narmeen Ship Recycling; on February 13, Foysal, 32, fell from a height and was injured while working on the company’s Atlantic Energy.

Since 2009, there have been 447 worker deaths in ship-breaking yards, and past studies have found that up to a third of workers suffer from asbestosis, a chronic lung condition.

In a press release issued yesterday, the platform said China tops the list for dumping the largest number of ships. “Despite the existence of state-of-the-art ship recycling facilities at national level, Chinese owners sold 71 vessels for scrapping in South Asia, 59 of which were beached in Bangladesh. While China has banned the import of waste as part of its efforts to clean its own environment and improve the quality of life of its citizens, the Chinese shipping industry is getting away with dumping its toxic waste on some of the most vulnerable communities and environments in the world,” said the statement.

The Bangladeshi $6.5 billion steel re-rolling industry gets only 10 percent of its steel from ship-breaking, according to industry insiders.