Preventing launch disasters
S. A. Mansoor Gulshan, Dhaka
A trinity of disasters on the odd days of May (15th, 17th & 19th) with around 300 dead has totally shaken our confidence on river traffic; a vital communication link in Bangladesh. the Perhaps Inland Water Transport is just a dangling department, and whoever heads it, the fault lies with them. After all when all is said and done; it is an act of God who creates the storms. Puns aside; what can we do to prevent such occurrence? A few pragmatic ideas are placed for consideration. The powers that be can take it or leave it; most probably they will leave it. a) Have all motorised passenger or cargo carrying inland waterway vessels registered with a locally formed professional classification society like Lloyds, ABS, NKK etc. b) We should allow only 3 or 4 standardised proven designs of vessels covering passenger capacities from 200 to 800 or whatever is considered as normal for the trade. Similarly, we could have a few standard designs for cargo vessels from say 25 tons to 100 tons or capacity that is suited to the trade. c) The Sareng, Sukani and Driver must have valid license to work. d) All vessels must have radio communication set to weather forecast wavebands only, which cannot be tuned to any other channel. If need be hourly weather forecasts through a specific inland marine band can be introduced. e) Needless to say standardised safety gadgets must be on board. Can the powers that be try to make a start to minimise this uncalled for loss of life in rivers?
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