Massive Gadani astillero de desguace extiende unos 10 km a lo largo de la costa cerca de Karachi, Pakistán. A los Trabajadores se les paga una miseria para trabajar en condiciones insalubres y peligrosas, pero no hay escasez de reclutas. La instalación se reduce alrededor de 100 buques al año en láminas y ángulos de metal, tubos y máquinas de trabajo. Produce alrededor de un millón de toneladas de acero que cumplen la mayor parte de la demanda de Pakistán para el metal del sector de la construcción.
Este es el mayor cementerio de barcos en el mundo – donde enormes petroleros y cruceros se desechan en la faja costera por equipos de trabajadores con poco más que herramientas de mano.
El trabajo es considerado uno de los más peligrosos del mundo, con los trabajadores que ganan una miseria de sólo £ 2.25 por día. Pero sorprendentemente no hay escasez de reclutas voluntarios.
Vienen de una cercana asentamientos ilegales y cada enjambre mañana un tramo de 10 k de la playa de arena en Gadani en Pakistán.
End of the line: Two huge tankers are hauled onto the sandy shore at Gadani in Pakistan where they will be broken up and sold for scrap
Hard graft: A worker uses a gas-powered blow torch to cut through steel plate as he dismantles a section of a ship at Gadani in Pakistan
Toxic: Oil from the condemned tankers is siphoned off to be sold at market before the ships are broken up for scrap
Over the course of the day, they combine muscle with machine to split vessels a thousand times bigger than their homes.
‘Men die, break legs, and tear muscle, but work never stops,’ said 30-year-old Muhammad Shakeel.
Shakeel had taken over a job from his ageing father a few years earlier and worked with younger brothers Wakil and Ismaiel.
Hulk: The bow of a giant tanker which has been partially dismantled sits on the beach at the Gadani ship-breaking yard near Karachi
Hundreds of labourers who risk their lives at the ship-breaking yard earn just £2.25 a day
Workers break up a ship at Gadani ship-breaking yard in Karachi, Pakistan, the biggest of its type in the world
Rusting sections of ships’ hulls lie on the beach where they will be broken down into smaller parts and sold as scrap
Pollution: Workers are covered in dirt and oil as they haul a barrel before it is sent off to be sold at market
A picture taken from inside a partially – dismantled ship shows the sheer size of the Gadani ship breaking yard
Metal : Steel plating from ships’ hulls is stacked into a pile prior to being loaded onto trucks and hauled off to be sold for scrap
Break time: Workers share a small plate of spicy lentils and a stack of naan breads
Expanse: The vast ship-breaking yard stretches some 10kn along the coast near Karachi, Pakistan
Workers are dwarfed as they swarm over the huge deck of an old oil tanker at Gadani ship-breaking yard in Karachi, Pakistan
A Pakistani worker peers out of a hatch on board one of the condemned tankers at the Gadani ship-breaking yard
A worker poses for a photograph while busy managing the heavy equipment used to break-up the massive ships
A worker hoists an empty barrel of oil above his head (left) while another uses a hammer to break up a small piece of scrap at the Gadani ship breaking yard
The facility tears down an average of 100 ships into sheets and angles of metal, pipes and working machines, every year.
They produce about a million tonnes of steel sold domestically in Pakistan – most of it fulfils demand for metal for the construction sector.
It takes an average of six months for a ship to be broken at bigger facilities like Alang and Chittagong, but just four months at Gadani.
One of the labourers squats on top of a metal cylinder as he use a blow-torch to cut away a section of rusted metal
A tired-looking worker takes a moment’s rest as his colleagues toil on in the background
Mammoth task: The facility tears down an average of 100 ships into sheets and angles of metal, pipes and working machines, every year
Not a drop wasted: A barrel of oil salvaged from a tanker is rolled onto a lifting truck to be sold at market
Exhausted workers take a break inside one of the condemned ships at the Gadani ship breaking yard