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Truck plunges off E’bo ferry
– Driver escapes, $2M in fertilizer lost
A truck laden with fertilizer plunged into the Essequibo River yesterday, while disembarking a ferry at the Adventure Stelling, with the driver barely escaping alive.
Truck owner John Walcott
The truck was reportedly maneuvering from the MV Lady Torani shortly after it docked at the Adventure Stelling when the planks over the gangway reportedly collapsed, sending the truck into the waters below.
Ferry operations to Region Two, Essequibo, were cancelled yesterday forcing scores of vehicles and travelers to either turn back or for the latter, to use the speedboats.
Yesterday, officials said that the truck was overweight but the truck operators and travelers on the ferry blamed the poor state of the stelling for the accident.
Minister of Public Works and Transportation, Robeson Benn, said that from initial reports, the truck may have been overloaded and this caused the ferry to tilt sending the truck into the river.
TRUCK OVERBOARD
When John Walcott received a call at around 08:30 hrs yesterday from his driver, Christopher Brown, it was not a normal telephone call. Instead the call was to notify him about an incident involving his truck, GEE 7332, which was disembarking from the MV Torani.
Walcott, who is the Production Manager at Caricom Rice Mills, Anna Regina, was saddened to learn that his truck of two years had sunk in the Essequibo River.
The truck, valued at $5M, was transporting 300 bags of TSP fertilizer and sank 30 feet under water. It was destined for the city and would have returned to the coast with rice for Caricom Rice Mills.
The truck, which had submerged since 08:00 hrs, had workers of Transport and Harbours Department of Essequibo, struggling for hours in vain to retrieve it from the water.
According to one passenger, who witnessed the incident, Brown managed to escape unhurt.
Speaking to Kaieteur News, Walcott, who expressed concern about who is going to foot the bill for the truck as well as the fertilizer, opined that the mishap was as a result of negligence on the part of T&HD.
The man insisted that if the gangway, as well as the stage, were properly secured; the losses could have been minimal, if not avoided. He learnt that the boat at the time, which was virtually empty and only had one large truck in it, tilted extensively on the eastern side causing the truck to roll back into the river.
Speaking to this newspaper, another truck driver said the stages at Adventure are poor and they have outlived their usefulness.
The vehicle being pulled from the river
An irate Brown said the relevant authorities need to look into the matter seriously since operations at the new ferry stelling at Supenaam has been halted due to a problem with the ramp.
Brown warned that the driver could have lost his life and better security measures are needed. Trucks, weighing 15 tonnes, and using the ferries, are charged $35,000 each.
With the assistance of another boat, Lady Mary and two crane operators, it took workers a number of attempts to pull the truck out, and this did not happen until after 17:00 hrs.
Walcott, who was observing the salvage operations for the entire day, said his truck, although insured may not be fully covered and even then would be out of commission for a long time.
It would be recalled that only a few weeks ago, a new multi-million dollar stelling at Supenaam, opened to ferry traffic, was forced to cease operations after only four days.
More than likely now, the pressure would be on to swiftly correct the defects there and move operations from the old Adventure Stelling.
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