It is now nearly four years since the above hard-hitting paragraph opened a news item in The Times of India. At a time when the rampant new pneumonia bug has spread its tentacles worldwide, it is worth looking back to examine what the wealthy shipbreakers of Alang have done since 1999 to control the same genre of severe respiratory distress in their workers. Almost exactly a year ago, the local Rotary Club drew on the financial resources of its counterpart in Luton, England, and commissioned a study of 1,000 demolition workers at Alang.

The research was aimed at determining the levels of tuberculosis and other diseases among these labourers, who were exposed to high-risk conditions. "The statistics were extremely revealing. The incidence of TB cases at Alang were well below the national average," recalls Rotarian Asif Khanbhai of Khanbhai Esoofbhai & Co, at 99 years old one of the oldest and most venerated shipbreaking firms in the industry. "And don't think the figures were fudged. The tests were conducted honestly. I myself went to the plots, and put my staff on the job as well. All attendance cards for the day were gathered up at the start of each visit, to prevent those who had a problem from slipping away."

The Amargarh Tuberculosis Hospital at the small neighbouring town of Githri handled the tests, which included chest X-rays, sputum and blood tests. Of the 985 X-rays taken, a mere 20 workers came up with TB; and of them, only six had the acute pulmonary version. "It is a dirty, difficult, dangerous industry, so these figures are pretty heartening," says Mr Khanbhai. "There is a terrific improvement on our safety records. It shows that the industry has become much more alive to the need to observe safety norms and treat workers well."

There is also a safety institution coming up at Alang, being with funds provided by India's largest private sector shipowner Great Eastern Shipping and in collaboration with Gujarat Maritime Board and other non-government organisations. Located about 2.5 km from the Alang port office, the centre will be dedicated to dealing with various levels of safety reports. It is expected to be ready by the third quarter of the current year. Other organisations and bodies within the shipping industry are doing what they can to assist the shipbreakers in toeing the safety line.

A few weeks ago, a team from Anglo-Eastern Ship Management came to Alang with the idea of preparing a textbook on how a ship should be broken. "Of course, that is easier said than done," admits Captain K N Deboo, director of Anglo-Eastern's training centre in Mumbai. "One cannot use a standard safety plan on every ship; each ship has its own quirks. You would probably have to cut portions off the safety plan."

"Generally, though, there has been much more safety consciousness at Alang," says Mr Khanbhai. "If you exclude the one major fire on the tanker Amina, and a few stray small incidents, we have hardly had any fire incident over the last one year."

The Amina incident was a blot on the copybook. Five days after the tanker was beached at Alang's Plot no. 94 in the closing days of February 2003, a fire broke out in the engine-room, and swiftly enveloped the entire crew accommodation. There was also an explosion. "The first week after beaching is the time that ships are most vulnerable to fire, because people are finding out more about the vessel," says Mr Khanbhai. "On a running vessel, when there is a handing-over operation, there are competent marine officers present, who know the ship inside-out. In the case of shipbreaking, it is a fresh start every time - people walking onto a ship and then out about it. "You could have people misjudging things, misinterpreting positions and locations on the vessel. When you go into the ship, you could lose focus.

The next day, you would have a better idea; but that day, you may misjudge just what is required for hot work." The official death toll of the Amina fire was put at seven dead on the spot. There were, in addition, around 20 people with serious who had to be moved to hospital with burns and lung-problems. Two of these died. The casualties occurred mostly among the teams of workers assigned to deal with oil and superstructure, but there were also two deaths of business people who had gone on board for inspection of materials. A GMB inquiry into the cause of the accident is on-going.

Another fire, which broke out in the early hours of March 5, gutted 20 tinder-dry huts belonging to Alang workers, but did not kill or injure anyone, although it did leave around a hundred homeless. The blaze was apparently caused by a short-circuit in one of the huts opposite plots no. 32 and 33. It consumed a store of provisions and clothes in the hut, and spread swiftly to other shanty dwellings along the road behind the beachfront. These incidents apart, Alang's safety record over the past year appears unlikely to have Greenpeace activists reaching for their placards and oiling their vocal chords.

Apart from anything else, the sheer number of workers has dwindled, from an all-time high of 40,000 in 1998, to a current level estimated at under 20,000. This is partly due to improved labour efficiency and partly because of greater automation in the demolition process. In addition, nearly half of the 184 shipbreaking plots along the 17 km of beach at Alang are empty at any given time, with tonnage scrapped at Alang dropping from an all-time high of over 3m ldt in 1998-99, to a present level that is struggling to cross 2m ldt.

"There has been a huge drop in tonnage, but the good thing is that larger vessels are coming in," says Mr Khanbhai.

"Prices have firmed up because of competition between us, Bangladesh, Pakistan and China. Many small countries have got recently into shipbreaking because steel prices have improved the world over."

There has been a phenomenal increase in the price of steel over the last four months. In September 2002, finished plate prices of steel were Rs 9,600 (Dollars 202) per tonne; at the the going rate is Rs 11,600 per tonne. "Such a rise has never been witnessed before in shipbreaking," says Mr Khanbhai. "It has been fuelled largely by the rising price of ships coming in for breaking. "Where we were paying Dollars 156 per ldt six months ago, we are buying at Dollars 210 per ldt today. The other thing is that the rupee-dollar exchange rate has been good to us, even as rates have plummeted."

The importance of the ship demolition industry is underscored by the fact that steel mills in India have not been getting the same quantity of melting scrap from abroad as before. The world over, people have begun re-cycling their own steel; and what used to come into India as scrap import has. For the demolition men, the outlook for the medium-term appears to be good. As Pravin Nagarseth, president of the Iron and Steelscrap, and Shipbreakers' Association of India, says, there can be no cheaper source for steel than shipbreaking."There is a terrific improvement on our safety records. It shows the industry has become much more alive to the need to observe safety norms and treat workers well."