The Ship Breakers of Bangladesh: VICE INTL

There aren't too many places left in the world where the practice of ship breaking—scrapping old ships for metal—can still exist. These days, environmental and labor regulations in the developed world have displaced the practice to India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, where cargo carriers are salvaged for their steel.

The largest vessels wind up on the shores of the city of Chittagong in Bangladesh, where the industry has become a vital part of the country's urbanization. It employs roughly 200,000 workers and supplies the country with 80 percent of its steel. Ship breakers beach and dismantle vessels daily wearing flip­-flops and T-shirts. It's no easy task, considering ships are constructed to withstand the elements for the 30 years they spend operating on international waters. We decided to check it out.

[beardymonger]

Thank you for:
1) Informing about this
2) Subtitles instead of dubbing
3) The shots of people smiling around 8:40

[BrokenRRT]

You can tell that kid is a brilliant kid. Hope he finds his way out of that mess someday.

[tomtheblagga]

Isn't it crazy how even though they live a life we couldn't even handle but they all still had smiles on thier faces it makes me realise how much I take for granted

[ElevatorCreator]

Feel for this kid, stepping up to support his mom and brother risking his life for pennys. Great character wish him and his family nothing but the best. Hope it gets better for them all. Make me appreciate life more just watching this.

[tjtownsend]

I am in awe of that 16 year-old's character, and those around him.
I am simply in awe.

[MrMarchinko]

Fuck... i need to appreciate living in a 1st world country more.

[alexandertheresurrection]

Damn, as a welder/warehouse worker my heart cries for these men who deserve to get paid at least 5x more than what I make. The fact that they literally get paid a fraction of what I make for a job that is EXTREMELY dangerous is a human rights disaster.

[bishw]

I just wonder how much, if anything, that film crew paid that kid. They probably had enough in their wallets to feed that family for a year.

[moveulterior]

I am living chittagong, , THIS Ship breaking destroy our most most old nature

[jesus]

we send ships over there to get them cheaply taken appart, and then for really low prices we rebuy the metal and ship it back and so on.

[cameronpeterson]

I felt bad when the kid got yelled at to not touch the toolbox. He seems more mature and smart than a lot of kids his age in the US

[dragonslayer]

I work as an asbestos and lead inspector and standard regulation in the US is less than 1% asbestos in any material is considered hazardous and needs to be remediated properly and safely so seeing these people working with so much asbestos exposing themselves, this makes me really sad, very unfortunate :(

[jonjoncudiamat]

A big respect for the country an for the people’s in Bangladesh

[daviddistefano]

I will NEVER complain about my Job again.

[TheLivirus]

I remember watching a documentary about this like 10 years ago.
Business is still thriving I can tell!

[dk]

I work as a welder in a shipyard here in japan and this video is the opposite of everything we do.No safety, No precautions And
No PPE’s. This is Sad:(

[linkunliu]

That kid is more hardworking and seems to be smarter than 70% of the folks I worked with in college, I’m not even kidding.

[onionheadtex]

Man, this is horrible. I would love to hear this turn from a sad story to a feel good story of the enviroment for the workers changing into a safe industry.

[carlislepanting]

I'm from Belize central America and i feel so sad watching this and i pray for Bangladesh!!✌🙏🌎

[desolderingpump]

This place was wealthiest in the Indian subcontinent before British colonization.