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Why ignore marine safety?
2007-05-25 08:43:43
By Editor
In recent years, it has become a norm to hear about marine accidents, engine failure at high seas and the capsizing of vessels.
In some cases, precious lives have been lost, and not in small numbers.
More frequently than not, the bulk of these accidents have been occurring in Lake Victoria waters.
The latest incident involved none other than a cabinet minister, who was part of a delegation of senior officers who were heading to Ukerewe Island for a funeral.
In all the major accidents that have occurred in Lake Victoria, the main factor was negligence and gross violation of marine laws.
Some of the sunken vessels were not insured; others had already been declared as not seaworthy, there are those which were terribly overloaded with both cargo and passengers, and some which had known technical problems.
To shed more light on the issue, we can cite several cases. On May 21, 1996, Mv Bukoba capsized while travelling from Bukoba to Mwanza. It was feared that as many as 563 passengers out of the 663 lost their lives, although the ship’s passenger capacity was 441.
However, other estimates put the number of the dead as high as 1,000, and, given the fact that there are tens of those who survived, then the gap between the official passenger capacity and the actual number of travellers must have been shocking, not to mention the cargo, which was also grossly overloaded.
This tragedy was expected to serve as a wake up call for both marine authorities and vessel owners to review the implementation of safety measures.
However, later tragedies have consistently proved that save for Lake Victoria becoming dry by natural disaster, there is currently no other possibility of seeing a halt to the saddening trend.
On January 20, 2005, a boat intended to ferry 9 people but which was carrying 30 passengers capsized in Lake Victoria.
Another accident occurred on July 10, 2005 in which 30 people were feared dead.
In April 2006, Mv Nyamageni went down the lake, leading to the perishing of 28 people.
The owner of the ill-fated vehicle, who is officially stated to be at large, and whom the authorities have apparently failed to trace even with the help of Interpol, is said to be sought by police for operating a non-sea worthy ship that had been banned from operating on the lake.
In Tanzania, people have the audacity to make tens of people board a condemned craft, consign them to a journey of no return, and simply get away with it.
Even in the latest fiasco, in which a cabinet minister almost lost his life, it was later reported that the ill-fated boat was in fact not sea worthy and this fact was known long before.
All this indicates that the question of marine safety in Lake Victoria and elsewhere is outside the priority of those who can reduce the tragedies, while precious lives continue to be lost each now and then; for almost similar reasons.
Let us all agree that our laissez faire attitude on marine matters is surely going to cost us a lot.
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