Death of 11 passengers at Mazaruni… MARAD recommends multiple charges for captains, crewmen

Feb 16, 2013 News

By Michael Jordan
The two boat captains involved in last month’s Mazaruni accident which claimed eleven lives broke several maritime laws, and the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) has recommended that they face multiple charges for the role they played in the tragedy.
Charges were also recommended for two other crewmen. Charges of manslaughter are likely to be recommended by the Director of Public prosecutions, as was done in the Pomeroon River tragedy which claimed six lives.
Among the breaches unearthed by MARAD during a preliminary probe are that boat captains Devon Thomas and Cobesh Persaud, while operating unlicensed vessels, failed to proceed at a safe speed, and operated with ‘reckless conduct’ and with inadequate life-saving equipment on board.
Investigations, so far, have revealed that Captains Thomas and Persaud violated sections of the River Navigation Regulations in that they conducted their vessels recklessly.
MARAD found that Mr. Persaud did not possess a steersman certificate of competence to operate his vessel, while the bowman of the Mattaran, Mr. Aubrey Bowen, was not in possession of a certificate of competency.
According to MARAD, the captains also violated sections of the Guyana Shipping Act (1998) and the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea.
“Every vessel should at all times maintain a proper lookout by sight and hearing as well as by all available means appropriate to the prevailing circumstances and conditions so as to make a full appraisal of the situation and of the risk of a collision.
“Both vessels failed to maintain a proper look-out,” a MARAD report stated.
MARAD noted that “every vessel shall proceed at a safe speed so that she can take proper and effective action to avoid collision and be stopped within a distance appropriate to the circumstances and conditions.
“Both vessels were not proceeding at a safe speed.”
Investigations also revealed that Captain Cobesh Persaud was proceeding according to the regulation which stated that “a vessel proceeding along the course of a narrow channel or fairway shall keep as near to the outer limit of the channel or fairway which lies on her starboard side as is safe and practicable.”
However, according to MARAD, Thomas, the other boat captain, failed to observe this regulation. Maritime officials also found that both captains failed to navigate with caution according to a regulation which states that “a vessel nearing a bend or an area of a narrow channel or fairway where other vessels may be obscured by an intervening obstruction shall navigate with particular alertness and caution and shall sound the appropriate signal.”
Eleven passengers perished in late January when two boats collided near a ‘blind turn’ in the vicinity of Crab Falls, Mazaruni.
One of the vessels was reportedly equipped with two 200-horsepower (HP) engines while the other had two 75-horsepower engines. The approach speed of the two vessels was said to have been in excess of 100 miles per hour.
Minister of Transport Robeson Benn had said that two boats, one carrying 12 persons and the other carrying nine, collided around 12:30 hrs.
The dead included Ricky Bobb of Barr Street, Kitty; Kevon Ambrose of Vergenoegen, East Bank, Essequibo; Deon Moses, 33 of Norton Street, Georgetown; Keanu Amsterdam, 17, of Barr Street Kitty; Francisco Alves, a Brazilian national; Jermaine Calistro, 27, of Boodhoo Housing Scheme, East Bank Essequibo (EBE); Ulric Grimes, 39, of Salem, East Bank Essequibo: Christopher Narine, 21, of Parika, East Bank Essequibo; Zahir Baksh, 34, of Kaneville; East Bank Demerara; Christopher Narine, and 52-year-old Jewan Seeram.
The tragedy occurred just a month after a boat captain and five passengers were killed in a two-boat crash in the Pomeroon.
This second collision had occurred even as the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD), the government regulator for vessels, was stepping up its checks to ensure vessels are fully certified and licensed.
Since then, more than 30 unlicensed boat operators and bow-men have approached MARAD officials in a bid to be certified.

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Death of 11 passengers at Mazaruni… MARAD recommends multiple charges for captains, crewmen

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