Ports Authority issues report on fatal boat crash
Six weeks after a fatal boat collision in the Placencia lagoon, the Belize Ports Authority has concluded its investigation. According to maritime officials, a team headed by Operations Manager Gilbert Swazo conducted an intensive inquiry into the accident and has made a number of determinations regarding the cause of the crash. This afternoon Ports Commissioner Major Lloyd Jones informed News Five of the findings.
Major Lloyd Jones, Ports Commissioner
The vessel “My Girl,” one of the vessels involved in the collision, was duly registered and licensed with the Port Authority. We also found that the person in charge of the vessel at the time was not in possession of a valid master’s license. We also found that he was operating at night without the prescribed lights, which is also an offence, and that he was on the wrong side of the channel. If you are in a channel or confined waters, the law requires that you stay on the right hand side of that channel, similar to the laws as it applies to the roads. And that vessel was not on that side of the channel, so that was some of the findings that we found. We have forwarded a copy of the report to the Commissioner of Police for his action as well, because presently our jurisdiction does not apply or allow us to lay charges such as manslaughter by negligence, causing death by careless conduct. We don?t have that legal authority so we have referred that to the Commissioner of Police for his action.”
According to Jones, the captain of “My Girl” was Adrian Vernon of Placencia Village. We understand that the captain of the other vessel has yet to be identified due to the lack of a complete description of the boat. Up to news time, no charges have been levied against Vernon. Around ten on the night of June twenty-fifth, darkness, a light rain, and a lack of lights proved to be a deadly combination as two boats travelling in opposite directions in the Placencia lagoon collided head on. Two passengers aboard “My Girl”, Clifford Atherley and his five year old son Nigel, were among those thrown into the water upon impact. While the child’s corpse was later found near the crash site, the elder Atherley’s body has yet to be recovered.
The incident in Placencia and others up and down the coast have prompted local authorities to address maritime safety issues through a nationwide programme of specifically designed workshops for the boating community. Tonight, the Ports Commissioner is urging all mariners to keep safety at the top of their list of priorities.
Maj. Lloyd Jones
?What we have found is that a lot of people have very little regard for their own lives. Here is a classic case of somebody operating a motor vessel at night without lights, now this is the way it has traditionally been done, but I think that we have failed to take into consideration that things have changed. Twenty years ago there might have been a hundred vessels sailing Belize, now we are talking about at least three thousand, five hundred vessels that are registered with us and there are many more that are not registered and licensed as yet. So that changes the game quite a bit and so you are talking about larger vessels, greater capacity, and even greater power and then when you mix that in with a larger number of vessels in the same space, then the risk of collision increases.”
“What we would like to do is to educate people on what the requirements are and how to go about operating safely. One of the challenges for us though is that traditionally the sea has always been free, you buy a boat, you go to sea, you have a good time, you come back in. Now as I mentioned before, because of the sheer number of vessels that we have now, we have to do something to ensure that when people go to sea, that yes they can go out and have fun, but also that they can do it safely. So that is where we are heading right now. We?ll start the first in a series of courses this weekend and we hope to do at least ten by the end of the year.”
Janelle Chanona
“You have anything else you would like to highlight for the public on a whole?”
Maj. Lloyd Jones
I would like to encourage particularly people who go on these passenger vessels to demand greater safety awareness from those in charge. If you go onboard a vessel, ask for a lifejacket and put it on. Presently, and strangely, the law does not require that you wear the life vest. The law only says that you must have one on board for every passenger. We’ve urged the water taxi associations to require people to wear them. We have also asked the Minister to change the law that would require that you wear the life vest. I think a classic case was the incident down in Placencia where the young lady Ayuso was giving her account of the story about being thrown in the water. Unlike an accident on land, if you are not hurt you can sit on the side of the road and wait for help to arrive, but in a boating accident if you are thrown from the boat, you are not hurt, you still have to worry about swimming until help arrives. So it?s very important that you wear the life vest.
The first safety workshop will be held in Caye Caulker this weekend for members of the Water Taxi Association. Members of the public are advised that seminars for private vessels will be announced in the local media in the near future.
This month the Belize Ports Authority will also be holding a separate set of seminars for youths under the theme “promoting the culture of boating safety.” The idea is to discuss several important topics including boating safety, rope work, naval terminology, water survival, emergency communications, and first aid. According to a press release issued by the Authority, the first workshop will be held next week in Corozal Town, while a similar session is planned for Dangriga from the twenty-ninth of August to the second of September. Other courses are expected to be held in the country’s major maritime communities. If you would like to attend the marine safety classes, please contact officials at the respective town boards for application forms.
