At least eight workers were killed and 14 others injured after being exposed to toxic gas while dismantling an old ship at Ferdous Steel Shipyard in Sitakunda, Chittagong on Friday morning.
The incident occurred at the shipyard in the Bhatiari area of Sitakunda upazila.
Five of the deceased were identified as Md Rana, 25, Khokon, 26, Habibur Rahman, 42, and two brothers, Mohammad Nasir, 47, and Mohammad Mansur, 55.
Al Mamun, senior station officer of the Kumira Fire Service Station said workers were dismantling an old LNG carrier when several of them entered a confined compartment inside the vessel and were exposed to toxic gas.
The affected workers were rushed to hospital in critical condition, he said.
Nazrul Islam, a worker at the shipyard, alleged that despite being classified as a green-category facility, the shipyard lacked adequate emergency medical arrangements. He said there was no ambulance at the facility, delaying the transportation of injured workers to hospital.
Nurul Alam Ashik, in-charge of the Chittagong Medical College Hospital police outpost, said six workers were brought to the hospital's emergency department around 12:10pm. Doctors declared five of them dead.
Three more workers were brought to the hospital in two separate batches and were also declared dead.
The bodies have been kept at the hospital morgue.
Sitakunda Upazila Nirbahi Officer Fakhrul Islam confirmed that eight workers had died and 14 others were injured. The injured are being treated at Chittagong Medical College Hospital and other hospitals.