UK law firm Leigh Day is taking legal action on behalf of a...Bangladeshi man [Mohamed Edris] who lost a leg and some of the sight in one eye whilst dismantling a ship on behalf of Zodiac Maritime, a London-based shipping company...

...According to lawyers at Leigh Day, Zodiac...should have known how dangerous the Chittagong breaking yards were when the vessel was sold for scrap to Rayna Investments, a “cash buyer” or middle man.

The legal case could see British, American and European shipowners and managers being made liable for the many deaths and accidents that take place every year in Bangladeshi, Indian and Pakistani shipbreaking yards...

 ...Leigh Day maintain that Zodiac knew the methods involved in dismantling vessels in Chittagong, yet it sold the Eurus London [ship] on...the full knowledge that it would be broken up in unsafe conditions...[A senior partner at Leigh Day,] said: “Mr Edris’ case is that they had a duty not to sell vessels to Bangladesh shipyards via their contractors or cash buyers. Zodiac sold it to a cash buyer in the knowledge it would be dismantled in unsafe conditions.”

...The shipbreaking yards on Asian beaches are an attractive solution to owners of large ships who can earn up to almost £3 million extra per ship by selling to the yards via cash buyers rather than using recycling yards which have higher standards...