Police warn boat owners of bad weather

By JUNIOR UKAHA
WEST New Britain police commander Supt John Midi has warned small boat operators in the province to take extra precautions when travelling out to sea due to bad weather.
Midi issued the warning after a tug boat belonging to a logging company ran aground on a reef in rough seas off the coast of the Kove-Kiliai local-level government in Kandrian-Gloucester in the far west of the island.
The boat belonging to Bismarck Logging Company ran aground on Dec 29 when heading to one of its logging sites.
“This tug boat ran aground due to rough seas and strong winds,” Midi said.
He said they did not attend to the incident because they had no transport.
But police were in touch with the company’s management.
Midi said he did not want another sea tragedy to happen and urged boat operators to be cautious during bad weather.
“I urge boat operators to listen to the weather report on radios so that they have a fair idea about what’s going on around them,” he said.
“We have to prevent sea tragedies before they happen.”