Editorial
Launch disaster enquiry report
IT is good not only to see enquiry committees, formed to investigate accidents and disasters, complete their task on time but also nice to have the major findings disclosed to the public.
The enquiry committees on two recent launch disasters, that in Bhola on the day before Eid-ul-Azha and the other in Kishoreganj only a week after that, have made public their findings and recommendations.
The two reports confirm what had been reported by the media as the possible causes of the accidents. The committee enquiring into the mishap in which Coco-4 was involved has identified seven causes why the launch capsized; the major reasons are overloading and apathy of the staff towards passenger safety. Incompetence of the motorboat operator has been cited as the cause for the Kishoreganj mishap.
It is a shame that greed of the staff of the motor vessel Coco-4, which had previously been involved in another accident, as well as their ineptness in managing passengers' safety, had caused the accident. That the said vessel picked up passengers enroute in the midstream of rivers from smaller passenger crafts, when the vessel was already overloaded, defies belief. But no less culpable, we must emphasise, are the government agencies meant to exercise supervision on errant launch owners and staff. The unholy nexus between the BIWTA staff, who gave false voyage declaration, and the launch employees, is clearly evident from the report
It would not be an exaggeration to suggest that in the public transportation sector, perhaps the most neglected and the worst managed is river transport. This is an undesirable state of affairs given that it is the riverways and riverine transport that most Bangladeshis adopt, both for travel and transportation of goods.
The committees have made a large number of recommendations that must be acted upon without delay. We note that a committee has been formed by the Shipping Ministry to go through the recommendations and suggest ways to implement those, within fifteen days. The 34 recommendations that the two committees have made between them may seem quite a handful but many of those have to do with implementing the existing rules and exercising control as per the laid down regulations.
We believe that whatever are the recommendations, it will ultimately depend on the agencies that are tasked to ensure safety of the passengers, competence of the crew members, serviceability of the river crafts, safety of the river routes, and the people that man those agencies, working with honesty and sincerity, to reduce the incidence of launch mishaps.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments