Vessel Grounding Will Be Dealt With at State Level
Gregory Soberanis
The vessel has since been removed from where it was lodged and departed our waters. The Ministry of the Environment will be conducting an assessment of the incident. Commander Gregory Soberanis says that a final report will be forwarded to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since the vessel has diplomatic status and the matter will be dealt with at state level.
Commander Gregory Soberanis, Vice Commandant, Belize Coast Guard
“All relevant stakeholders were informed; the key stakeholder at this juncture would be the Department of Environment. Because it is a military vessel and it does have diplomatic status, a report from DOE will be submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and it will be dealt with at that particular level. The vessel has been removed from off the reef. DOE will conduct an initial impact assessment and based on those findings that will be include in the report, which will be forwarded to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and it will be dealt with on a state to state level. Under these circumstances what DOE did was that they have Hol Chan, which is an environmental agency, who responded as well, to go do an assessment of the situation to determine if the vessel van be removed and if any damage would be incurred to the reef if the vessel would have been removed. In this case, that was done with the assistance of the Coast Guard and it was deemed that vessel could be removed in a safe manner without any significant damage to the reef. So the vessel was removed. Even after the vessel was removed, there were no damages to the vessel or the engines of that particular vessel.”
Reporter
“Is there any allowances made for a pilot error or a captain’s error based on an incorrect reading from the buoy?”
Commander Gregory Soberanis
“All that will be taken into consideration for the final report. Those are the type of questions we normally ask. Was it navigational error? Was it pilot error? Was it mechanical failure? So all those questions will be factored into the investigation for the final report.”
