Some places do not usually appear in tourist guides and yet they are impressive for any open-minded and non-judgmental traveler. One of these places is located near the port city of Chittagong in Bangladesh: one of the largest shipbreaking yards in the world, a gigantic and impressive ship graveyard.
Along 18 kilometers on the coast in the Bay of BengalHundreds of ships arrive here every year for their last voyage. The workers, working in dire conditions, undo the ships screw by screw with their own hands. The extracted metal is taken to the smelting furnaces and nourishes an industry that was born in the 60s and generates great income for the country.
And it all started almost by chance. In 1960 a cyclone stranded an old Greek cargo ship on these shores. The ship could not be refloated so it was decided to abandon it there. Five years later the company Chittagong Steel House He bought it and managed to scrap it with the help of the locals. It was the beginning of the start of a new industry for Bangladesh.
Today the dying ships are brought here, until they are stranded in a sea of mud. The remaining oil and fuel are first removed as well as fire fighting chemicals, which are resold. Then it is the turn of the machinery and accessories, and finally everything else: nothing is wasted: cables, batteries, generators, lifeboats ...
The average time to make a ship disappear in Chittagong is three months. And everything is done by hand, by workers who receive miserable wages and who carry out their work exposed to inhaling all kinds of harmful fumes and the risk of being electrocuted, crushed by falling debris as well as contracting all kinds of diseases in a highly unsanitary environment.