Ship with 'dangerous chemicals' reaches Pakistan; probe launched

The plot of Gadani shipbreaking yard, where the ship has anchored for scrapping, has been sealed off by the Environment Protection Agency.  The samples of loaded material have been sent to three private laboratories in Karachi for further examination.

“We have sealed plot No-58 where the ship was brought for scrapping,” Imran Saeed Kakar, Deputy Direc­tor of Environment Depar­t­ment, Balochistan, was quoted as saying by Dawn. No permission was granted to the owner who brought the ship to Gadani for scrapping, he added.

Officials have launched the investigation to ascertain as to how the ship reached Gadani despite information shared with Pakistani authorities by Interpol about the presence of dangerous material in the ship.

“If the mercury sludge is found in more than the authorized quantity then a case would be registered against the person who purchased the ship through his agent from Mumbai and the plot would be sealed permanently and the owner would face legal action,” Kakar said.

Importantly, the ship was first brought to Bangladesh and then India, and both the countries did not allow its scrapping at their shipbreaking yards due to the loading of dangerous mercury-mixed chemicals in the ship.