23 September 2003 (Ahmedabad, India) – Environmental group Greenpeace Tuesday said it was strongly opposing moves to bring a Norwegian oil tanker to India's shipbreaking yard at Gujarat's Alang to avoid any leak of hazardous wastes.

It has written a letter to federal and state government officials to block the ship's entry to India, which is likely to land here next week. "Hesperus, which is an oil tanker ship, will have lots of explosives and toxic substance on board," said Ramapathi Kumar, shipbreaking campaigner, Greenpeace.

"We are demanding that import of the ship should be halted until it is decontaminated by the owner so that accidents like those that have happened in the past can be avoided," he added.

Greenpeace has said that the onus of cleaning up the ship lies with the owner and not the ship breaker as a developing nation such as India does not have the resources to clean up the toxic waste of the ship.

It added that India's Supreme Court has ruled in a case dating back to May 1991 that ships should be made "free of hazardous substance before they come onshore for breaking."

Shipbreaking yards in India, Bangladesh and other developing countries have a track record of large number of accidents due to inadequate safety norms being followed, Greenpeace added.