Villagers decided to leave the villages Monday after they noticed a noxious smell coming from the nearby yard where workers had begun to scrap a recently-arrived ship, the news agency BSS said.

Last year, a number of chickens died after a similar leak from the yard in the coastal Sitakunda district, 243 kilometers (152 miles) southeast of the capital, Dhaka.

The shipbreaking industry in Bangladesh is concentrated along this stretch of coastline near the port city of Chittagong.

Greenpeace describes the coastal area as "highly polluted" due to a lack of regulation of the Bangladeshi shipbreaking industry.

According to the Bangladesh Ship Breakers' Association, the industry, which supplies the country's domestic steel requirements, generates government revenues of some 6,000 million taka (100 million dollars) annually.

Local police had been informed of the leak but were not available for comment, BSS added.

TERRA.WIRE