Overloaded vessels often end up in tragedy at sea

 By BEATRICE BONAKOYA

OVERLOADING vessels in rough weather more often than not provides one simple outcome – disaster. 

A dinghy carrying 28 people capsized just after leaving Goodenough Island in Milne Bay in the early hours of Saturday as strong winds and rough seas buffeted the area.

Twenty-seven people were rescued but one man remains missing. 

The dinghy carried mostly students from Watuluma High School who were going home to nearby islands for the holidays.

Acting provincial disaster and emergency coordinator Steven Tobessa claimed yesterday that the dinghy was overloaded and the operator had failed to adhere to the strong wind warnings in the province last week.

“Overloading is a criminal act so police, together with the Milne Bay provincial Maritime Safety Authority, are investigating the incident,” Tobessa told The National.

He said his office heard of the disaster on Monday after relatives of the victims reported the matter. 

Relatives of the missing man, Bendick Awakuyo, from Ebadidi village on Fergusson Island, said he was taking his daughter for holidays.

His daughter, Joylene Awakuyo, a Grade 10 student at Watuluma High School, told relatives that her father rescued her and took her to the safety of a nearby reef and jumped into the water again to save the others but went missing.

The dinghy has since been grounded and the operator is in police custody at the Bolubolu police station on Goodenough Island.