Fire at an oil tanker at the Gadani Ship-breaking yard was put out on the fourth day. Rescue work inside the ship could not be started as the metal plates are scalding, the sources said.
Rescue operation at the upper portion of the Gadani oil tanker has been completed. Rescue officials claimed that 19 bodies and body parts of three people were recovered from the wreckage.
Rescue operation in the lower portion will begin shortly. Eighty five per cent of the wreckage has been given clearance by rescue workers.
At least 22 people were killed and 58 injured when its fuel tank exploded on November 1. The MTSS ship with a Nairobi flag had reached Gadani carrying 19 Indian crew members on October 22. The same day the crew left the ship, sources said.
The ship was bought by owner of Ghafoor and Company Abdul Ghafoor, who has been missing since the incident. Police have arrested the contractor who was dealing with the workers.
A case on behalf of the government has been filed at the Gadani police station. According to police, four suspects have been named in the case. The suspects include Chaudhry Ghafoor, Muhammad Hafeez, contractor Jalal and Farooq Bangali. One of the suspects, Hafeez has been arrested by the police.
The Gadani ship-breaking industry has fallen on hard times recently and employs about 9,000 workers, fewer than in its boom years at the end of the last decade.