Ship Breaking at Alang Scrap Yard in India

In 1998, Greenpeace sent investigators to the world's largest scrapping site for ocean going ships in Alang, India. Here they witnessed appalling worker conditions and mass environmental pollution: workers were routinely having to remove carcinogenic asbestos with their bare hands; toxic materials were being dumped in the sea or on nearby agricultural land; workers were seen torch-cutting ship steel into small pieces and inhaling the toxic fumes of lead paints. Greenpeace laboratory analysis of seawater, sediment and soil samples from around Alang showed that the region is becoming increasingly contaminated. Residual oil inevitably pollutes the sea. Materials and objects containing asbestos are widely distributed around the country both as waste and for reuse.