Information from the Ministry of Construction said that at a meeting between the An Giang Provincial People's Committee and leaders of the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and functional agencies on the morning of July 12 to deploy a plan to overcome the consequences of the canoe capsizing that killed 15 tourists, Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Xuan Sang highly appreciated the urgent involvement of the An Giang provincial government, Phu Quoc special zone and functional forces when deploying rescue and relief in conditions of big waves and strong winds, bringing all victims ashore in a short time.
To ensure waterway traffic safety and maintain the sustainable development of marine tourism activities, leaders of the Ministry of Construction proposed that An Giang province direct relevant units to tighten transport management, general inspection of waterway traffic safety assurance procedures throughout the area; absolutely not to issue departure permits for vehicles that do not fully meet the technical conditions, life-saving equipment, life jackets and safety requirements according to regulations.
In parallel with the direction of the Ministry's leaders, the Vietnam Maritime and Waterway Administration has also issued documents requesting the Departments of Construction, Sub-Departments of Maritime and Waterway, Port Authority, Inland Waterway Port Authority and Vietnam Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Center to urgently and synchronously implement solutions to ensure order and safety of inland waterway and maritime traffic.
According to the Vietnam Maritime and Waterway Administration, implementing Official Dispatch No. 47/CD-TTg of the Prime Minister and Official Dispatch No. 26/CD-BXD of the Ministry of Construction, the Administration requests the entire sector to urgently review and rectify management work to prevent similar incidents.
For the Kien Giang Maritime Administration, the Department requests to continue to closely coordinate with the Border Guard, Coast Guard, Police, local authorities and relevant forces in search and rescue work, overcoming consequences, and at the same time identifying and clarifying the cause of the accident in accordance with their functions and tasks.
Kien Giang Maritime Administration conducts a review of all registration dossiers, inspection, technical safety dossiers, civil liability insurance of ship owners, passenger insurance and operating conditions of all tourist passenger vehicles in the managed area; proposes to temporarily suspend operations for vehicles and units that do not ensure safety conditions...
Not only focusing on handling the case in Phu Quoc, the Vietnam Maritime and Waterway Administration requests the Sub-Departments of Maritime and Waterway, Port Authority of Maritime and Inland Waterway Port Authority nationwide to continue to strictly implement the directions of the Government and the Ministry of Construction; strengthen inspection and supervision in the managed area, urgently overcome existing problems that have been detected and proactively identify and handle new unsafe risks.
Notably, the Department requested to organize a general review of ensuring waterway traffic safety in areas with operating conditions similar to the accident site, focusing on passenger transport routes from the shore to the island, coastal passenger transport, tourist passenger transport and routes with large passenger traffic.
Key routes requested for immediate inspection include Ly Son, Con Dao, Cat Ba, Ha Long Bay, Nha Trang and areas with waterway tourist transport activities in Khanh Hoa. At the same time, units must strengthen inspections at lakes and reservoirs with passenger transport activities serving tourism, especially during the peak tourist season, rainy and storm season and times when dangerous weather occurs frequently.
The Vietnam Maritime and Waterway Administration requests units to coordinate with functional forces to inspect the compliance with legal regulations for organizations and individuals engaged in passenger transport business, especially in conditions of rainstorms, strong winds or dangerous weather.
The inspection content includes the technical safety conditions of the vehicle; validity of the technical safety and environmental protection certificate; life-saving and rescue equipment and communications; professional conditions, certificates and staffing of drivers and crew members; the arrangement, wearing of life jackets and safety skills guidance for passengers; controlling the number of passengers; organizing passenger pick-up and drop-off at ports and wharves;
Maintaining technical safety conditions during operation; validity of certificates of civil liability insurance for ship owners, passenger insurance; as well as equipping and maintaining the operation of automatic identification devices (AIS) or journey monitoring devices.
According to the direction of the Department, units must promptly suspend operations or propose to competent authorities to suspend vehicles, ports, and wharves that do not ensure operating conditions; strictly handle violations to prevent similar accidents.
For the Vietnam Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Center, the Department requests to maintain a 24/24 hour duty regime, be ready with forces and vehicles to participate in rescue when requested; continue to coordinate with the Kien Giang Maritime Administration and functional forces to handle the accident in Phu Quoc.
The Center must also review the ability to access and rescue at key passenger transport routes from shore to islands such as Ly Son, Con Dao, Cat Ba, Ha Long Bay and Phu Quoc; propose to increase vehicles and equipment for search and rescue in areas where rescue capacity is still limited.
For Departments of Construction, the Vietnam Maritime and Waterway Administration proposed to closely coordinate with Port Authorities, Sub-Departments and relevant agencies in managing, inspecting, and supervising safety for transport routes from the shore to the island and tourist transport routes under their management; and at the same time review the registration, announcement of routes, licensing of inland waterway port operations, management of transport activities and related state management tasks.
Localities are also required to promptly detect overlapping contents, unclear responsibilities or risks of omission in the process of decentralization and delegation of power; coordinate to review vehicles, organizations, and individuals engaged in passenger transport business, promptly rectify and handle according to their authority or propose competent authorities to handle cases that do not ensure safety conditions.
