p.r.bullen - travelogue

shipbreaking in chittagong In the shipbreaking yards, everything is done by hand, cutting up the ships with blowtorches and saws, hauling the metal in, moving it and loading the trucks.

While we were there, they were loading huge slabs of steel onto a truck. The workers would get a chant, or a song, going to build a rhythm, and on the signal would all lift the slab and run it onto the truck, letting the forward momentum carry it onto the bed. The music was vital, because if anyone missed a beat, was out of step, it could be fatal.