On July 14, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction issued an urgent document requesting relevant units to urgently strengthen solutions to ensure order and safety of inland waterway and maritime traffic during the rainy and storm season, especially after a particularly serious waterway traffic accident occurred in Phu Quoc special zone (An Giang province).
According to the Department of Construction, units need to proactively coordinate to implement state management measures to prevent and stop the risk of unsafety for waterway passenger transport and tourism activities. In which, focus on strictly controlling vehicles carrying passengers from the shore to the island, especially the route to Con Dao and Thanh An island.
The Department of Construction assigned the Ho Chi Minh City Inland Waterway Port Authority to coordinate with functional forces to strengthen inspection and supervision of compliance with regulations on waterway and maritime traffic safety of organizations and individuals engaged in passenger transport business, especially in extreme weather conditions. Violations and shortcomings must be handled and corrected promptly.
The Port Authority is also required to comprehensively inspect the safety conditions of vehicles, including registration, inspection, technical safety and environmental protection certification, maintenance of technical condition during operation, life-saving and rescue equipment, communication systems, automatic identification equipment of ships, and crew quotas.
At the same time, this agency must strictly control passenger pick-up and drop-off, the number of people on the vehicle, the arrangement of life jackets and safety skills guidance for passengers before departure.
In addition, the Ho Chi Minh City Inland Waterway Port Authority must review the management work at ports and wharves, especially passenger wharves, riverside passenger wharves and wharves serving tourism and festivals. Functional forces are required to strengthen patrols and strictly handle the situation of encroachment or re-encroachment on the protection scope of train channels and channel protection corridors on announced transport routes.
For the Waterway Management Center, the Department of Construction requests to promote propaganda and remind businesses and vehicle operators to regularly update information about water levels, currents, and vertical height of river crossing works; comply with the signal system, and only control vehicles through works when safety is ensured.
This unit must also strengthen warnings about areas with potential traffic unsafety risks so that captains can proactively prevent them, especially for those who are not familiar with the terrain.
In addition, the Waterway Management Center is assigned to review the system of buoys and signs in areas with river crossing works to ensure full, clear and convenient traffic for vehicles. Based on actual assessment, the unit proposes to adjust regulations, standards, and technical regulations if inadequacies are detected.
Previously, at noon on July 11, a canoe carrying 32 Indian tourists and 4 crew members and tour guides encountered an accident in the sea near Hon May Rut Ngoai, Phu Quoc special zone (An Giang province).
The canoe capsizing killed 15 Indian tourists, and the remaining 21 were rescued by functional forces and people.
