19 speedboat deaths in four months… Maritime official wants passengers to report drunk, reckless operators

Apr 17, 2013 News

Passengers travelling by boat should take a cue from minibus commuters and caution and even report speedboat operators who overload their vessels, pilot them recklessly, especially while under the influence of alcohol.
This is the view of a senior Maritime official who made the comments in the wake of three major river mishaps which have claimed 19 lives in the past four months.
The Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) official believes that the mandate of Care, Caution, Courtesy, Consideration and Commonsense, is equally applicable to speedboat operators as it is to motorists.
While they are not subjected to breathalyzer tests, the official pointed out that some boat operators behave in a similarly reckless manner as some motorists.
“Often eyewitnesses (to river mishaps) would tell you that ‘the man (boat captain) was drinking’, but they would not tell the authorities so he can be intercepted before he moves off,” the official told Kaieteur News yesterday.
“It’s a culture that we have to change. If you believe that he is going too fast, if he does not hear you, when you reach your destination, contact the Maritime department.”
While MARAD has intensified its efforts to ensure vessels are fully certified and licenced, the source emphasised that commuters must also play their part.
“We are doing everything that we can (but) we can’t have a presence everywhere. We are trying to educate the public that they too have a responsibility. Safety is not a Maritime issue alone, so that if maritime (personnel) are not present nothing happens.”
Asked about the possibility of speedboat operators being subjected to breathalyzer tests, the official stressed that the requisite laws are not in place. However, the source suggested that similar laws could be enacted.
Maritime officials have had to deal with three major river tragedies in the past four months.
On December 18, 2012, six passengers, including three children, perished when a vessel owned by the Region Two administration and a smaller vessel collided at Siriki/Adam’s Creek in the Pomeroon River.
Investigations revealed that the captain of the Region Two vessel, who was subsequently charged, had breached a number of regulations.
These included failing to maintain a proper look out at all times; failing to proceed at a safe speed so as to take proper and effective action to avoid collision; failing to alter the vessel’s course to starboard and failing to render assistance to the operator and passengers.
In late January, eleven passengers perished when two vessels 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 over 100 miles per hour.
And on March 23, last, 50-year-old boat captain Philip Adams and nine-year-old passenger Nikeisha James died in a two-vessel collision along the Port Kaituma black water channel, North West District.
A MARAD source said that investigations into the Mazaruni and Port Kaituma crashes are still incomplete.

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