Deaths at ship-news/breaking-pendleton-council-to-let-marijuana-moratorium-expire/” title=”BREAKING: Pendleton council to let marijuana moratorium expire”>breaking yard: Ferdous Steel fined Tk 5 lakh for operating without clearance
DoE orders to deposit fine within seven working days, bars from resuming ship-breaking until clearance is renewed
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•NEWS
Staff Correspondent, Chattogram
MT Rasi, an LNG tanker that’s a little under three football pitches in length, arrived at the Chattogram anchorage in July 2025 and was officially beached for demolition on July 13, 2025. The ship was being dismantled for months prior to the August 14 incident. Photo: Star
The Department of Environment (DoE) today fined Ferdous Steel Ship Recycling Industries Tk 5 lakh for dismantling the vessel MT Rasi without renewed environmental clearance at its yard in Sitakunda, Chattogram.
DoE’s Chattogram regional office imposed the fine following a hearing after an inspection of the yard, where nine workers died in a toxic gas incident while dismantling the vessel on August 14.
According to the order, the department found that Ferdous Steel was carrying out ship-breaking operations without renewed environmental clearance and was fined Tk 5 lakh under the Environmental Damage Assessment method.
The department directed the company to deposit the amount with the government within seven working days. It also ordered the yard not to resume ship-breaking activities until it obtains renewed environmental clearance.
Ashraf Uddin, assistant director of the DoE’s Chattogram district office, said the hearing was held in the presence of a representative of the yard’s owner, who admitted to the violation.
The order warned that failure to comply with the directives would lead to legal action, including filing a case against the company with the appropriate court.
The action came five days after the accident at the yard, where nine workers died from suspected hydrogen sulphide gas while dismantling MT Rasi.
The incident has also brought Ferdous Steel’s regulatory record under renewed scrutiny. The yard has faced three labour-law cases since 2017, with courts convicting it in two earlier cases and the other case filed this year.
