Small craft law needed

 By JUNIOR UKAHA

THERE should be specific laws to deal with small craft operators who cause death at sea, a senior police officer said in Morobe yesterday.

Chief Supt Kaiglo Ambane, the Morobe provincial police commander, made the call after his detectives released two men who were taken into custody for alleged negligence causing the death of four people at sea between Finschhafen and Sialum early this month. 

Ambane said the two men, owner and skipper, had to be released because police could not find an appropriate charge under the Criminal Code and Small Craft Acts to lay against them.

He said he had sought advice from police detectives and a state lawyer but could not find an appropriate charge to lay against them.

Some of the concerns derived from Ambane’s discussions with the detectives and the lawyer included:

• What type of vessel can be defined as a small craft;
• How many passengers and how much cargo will that small craft carry (carrying capacity); and,
• The type of safety devices and equipment to be made compulsory in all such crafts.

Ambane said apart from larger vessels like the sunken mv Rabaul Queen, vessels like dinghies and small boats did not have specific laws that regulated their operation.

“The Sialum incident occurred because the dinghy was overloaded,” Ambane said.

“It was supposed to carry building material only but it had picked up passengers as well.

“Unlike land transport, where drivers have licences and there are concrete charges, dinghy operators operate freely because there is no law specifically for them.

“The Law Reform Commission must look into this and come up with appropriate legislation to deal with the matter.” 

Ambane said when specific laws to deal with dinghy operators and other small crafts were put in place, it would save many lives at sea in this country. 

Ambane said in the Sialum incident, police had released the two accused after they could not charge them.

He said police had arranged for mediation where the accused would pay some form of compensation to the families and relatives of the victims.

Four people – two adults and two children – reportedly drowned after the dinghy, named Express, capsized in rough seas near the Masaweng River on the border of Finschhafen and Sialum in Tewai-Siassi.