Bodies of five Gadani workers sent to Peshawar

KARACHI: As many as five bodies of people who were killed when a fire broke out in a ship parked on plot 60 of the Gadani Shipbreaking Yard in Hub were sent to their native city of Peshawar on Tuesday morning.

The deceased were identified as Saeed Khan, Alif Khan, Muhammad Saeed, Sabir and Naimat.

According to reports, their bodies were shifted to Edhi`s morgue yesterday.

The labourers while speaking to Geo News informed that they are sending the bodies back to their families on their own expenses, no support was given by the company or government.

The ship was owned by ex-chairman of the Shipbreaking Yard Association Rizwan Diwan Farooq, who was detained after he initially fled the spot when the fire first broke out. Over 55 labourers were working on the LPG ship when the blaze started, police said.

Officials from the environment department said chemical foam present inside the ship was responsible for the fire. They said all combustibles need to be removed from a ship before work is started but the foam was not removed in this case, which shows neglect.

Police sources pointed out that this was the same ship that caught fire in December last year. According to the police, rescue workers were still looking for three people. Bashir Mehmood Dani, president of the labourers association, however, claimed that the number of missing people was eight.