Justice delayed: Balochistan govt pays compensation to Gadani blast victims after 4 years

In a case of delayed justice, the Balochistan government on Monday paid compensation to the heirs of 2016 Gadani oil tanker fire blast victims, after four years of the tragedy.

In a case of delayed justice, the Balochistan government on Monday paid compensation to the heirs of 2016 Gad oil tanker fire blast victims, after four years of the tragedy.

The heirs of the victims received a cheque of Pakist Rs 500,000 as compensation, reported The News International.

Twenty-one families from across the country - mostly from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and then from Punjab - were each given the cheque at a ceremony.

Twenty-nine workers were killed and over 50 were injured as fire ripped through a decommissioned oil tanker, Aces, moored for dismantling at Plot 54 in the Gad Ship-Breaking Yard on November 1, 2016.

The incident is dubbed as one of the deadliest industrial disasters as the fire raged for three days and the bodies of four of the victims were never found, reported The News International.

According to The News International, the government has not fulfilled its promise of providing a hospital to the workers who have to travel 50 kilometres to Karachi to seek help in emergency situations.

The Gad Ship-Breaking Workers Union president, Bashir Mehmood, said the compensation was paid from a special fund by the Balochistan labour department and the Workers Welfare Board.

"In March, we had an incident in which two workers were killed and as many were injured. Since there was no facility in the area to treat the injured, they were rushed to Karachi for treatment where one died," Mehmood said, adding that the government should, first of all, provide a tertiary-care hospital so that the injured could be given first aid immediately.

Apropos to the demand, Ismail Sattar, member of the Workers Welfare Board, asked the provincial government to hand over the administration of the hospital to the board. He said that if the government could not run the hospital, the employers and workers would run it through a committee, reported The News International.

( With inputs from ANI )