A Bangladeshi woman whose husband died while dismantling an oil tanker at a ship-breaking yard in 2018 can file a negligence claim against a British company involved in the vessel’s sale, London’s High Court ruled this week. Khalil Mollah, 32, fell to his death while working on a tanker called the EKTA in the port city of Chattogram in southeastern Bangladesh, where scores of end-of-life ships are sent to be scrapped each year.

…Maran was not immediately available to comment on Monday’s High Court judgement, which said Begum [Mollah’s widow] had “a real prospect of succeeding in relation to her claim”.

…Bangladesh is one of the most popular destinations for breaking end-of-life ships with at least 230 ships out of about 670 broken on its beaches last year, according to NGO Shipbreaking Platform. Thousands of Bangladeshis depend on the sector for survival, but rights groups have been sounding the alarm about hazardous working conditions in the industry for years. At least 24 ship-breaking workers were killed last year and another 34 were seriously injured at the scrap yards.

…Most companies sell ships to scrap dealers, better known as cash buyers, who pay the highest price for ships and are closely linked to beach yards where unsafe working practices are common.