Collision of ships: What went wrong?

By Hiranthi Fernando

The lack of space for manoeuvring in the Colombo Port could lead to more accidents such as last Saturday's collision between two ships, experts warned yesterday as operations were underway to salvage the damaged ship and cargo.

Last Saturday's incident where a huge container carrier hit a smaller one is not the first time a ship had gone out of control. It happened thrice before and significantly at the same place, they say.

However, since there was no other ship berthed at the terminal at that time, the ships that went out of control had hit the pier and the crane. Even two days ago, a crane was hit by a ship at the Jaye Container Terminal (JCT).

When the JCT was constructed, the structure extended 300 metres into the sea, reclaiming what was part of the waterway. The water area has thus been reduced. Also, the ships that are coming into the harbour today are larger than foreseen when the port was constructed, the experts say.

The depth of the sea at this spot in the JCT is said to be about ten metres. Although the centre was dredged to a depth of 14 feet, it has apparently got filled up since the sides were less deep. Just outside the breakwater, there is a natural contour of ten metres depth. It is believed that with the extension of the Queen Elizabeth Quay by a further 100 metres, the problem would be intensified and manoeuvrablity further reduced, they say.

Those who saw last Saturday's collision say when the ship entered the port near QEQ, its engines were running. After it entered, it has to be made stationery so that the tug boats could take over in turning it around and berthing it. To halt the forward momentum of the ship, the propellers were turned in the reverse direction. While the propellers were in reverse motion, the engine continued to run.

At this stage the engine of the M.V. Zim Piraeus which had entered the harbour for berthing, had apparently failed to answer. Although various measures were tried, the wind was also strong, and the collision could not be prevented.

Harbour pilots say, when there is a delay in answering the turn movement, it poses a risk of collision or the ship getting out of control. According to seamen, the basic principle inside the harbour is that pilots advise and the masters order. So the ultimate responsibility for a ship rests with its Master even though a harbour pilot may be on board to guide it in.

Following the collision of the ships the feeder vessel M.V. Leerort still lies tilting on its side surrounded by a mass of black oil. A barrier has been laid around to prevent the oil from spreading. Using oil skimmers, the oil was being suctioned off into barrels.

Master Divers, a salvage company, has been retained by Lloyd's Insurance of London, to refloat the ship.

Ruwan Wickremaratne, Operations Director of Master Divers said the divers were removing the oil from the water and sealing the oil leaks on the ship. Most of the containers that fell into the water have been recovered but one or two were damaged. The containers still on the ship are being kept intact to preserve the balance of the damaged vessel. They are still unable to say whether the cargo in the containers is damaged or what the cost of damage would be. The operation is expected to take two to three weeks.

Mohammed Reeza, Operations Manager of Sri Lanka Shipping Co. Ltd., the shipping agents for the Leerort said they had 287 containers on board. He said it was a mixed cargo, with many transhipment containers. The insurance company is making its assessments now.

The Harbour Master, Captain Chinniah said the larger ship M.V. Zim Piraeus which caused the collision, had been detained until sufficient guarantee is given to the Sri Lanka Ports Authority, in the event that the Port had to bear any expenses.

While the Harbour Master's division is conducting inquiries authorities say the movement of vessels to and from the port is taking place according to schedule.

Mothers of Jaffna demand action

By S.S.Selvanayagam

Hundreds of mothers supported by other civil rights groups held a demonstration outside the Human Rights Commission office in Jaffna, urging immediate action to probe the mass grave at Chemmani and other disappearances.

The Mothers' Front an association of guardians of arrested and disappeared persons in the North, the Jaffna Diocesan Commission for Justice and Peace, People's Council for Justice and Peace, YMHA and other NGOs took part in the protest by some 500 people.

They congregated at Rasavinthoddam around 9 a.m and went in a procession for half a mile to the Human Rights Commission(HRC) office at Somasundaram Lane, Chundikuli.

They picketed outside the HRC office appealing for a response as to what the HRC had done regarding the mass graves and disappearances.

The demonstrators said they would not budge until they got a positive response. As the situation appeared to be getting tense, HRC officials pacified the demonstrators saying they would contact the head office in Colombo immediately.

The message was faxed and HRC chairman O.S.M.Seneviratne replied immediately saying they were doing everything possible to bring about justice.

He also assured that an official from Colombo would be sent to Jaffna to expedite inquiries. The demonstrators then marched to the Jaffna Government Agent's office where they handed over another memorandum.

The marchers then went away vowing they would resume their protest if prompt action was not taken.

Uthayan not a Tiger paper, says Editor

The Jaffna based Uthayan newspaper has rejected charges that it is a voice of the LTTE.

Uthayan, Chief Editor, M.V. Kannamylnathan in a letter said the newspaper stood for the rights of the Tamil people and not for the Tigers as alleged by the National Movement against Terrorism (NMT) in a statement published in The Sunday Times last week.

The Chief Editor states:

"Our newspaper is a National daily, independent in nature and always neutral. We have stood straight to voice the grievances, hardships and aspirations of the Tamils and not that of the LTTE.

"We always stand straight to voice the grievances and aspirations of the Tamils, without any slanting. It is fitting to say that we are the voice of the Tamils.'' The NMT made the charge in an open letter to Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesighe regarding recent proposals for unconditional talks with the LTTE.

Ad ban under microscope

By Faraza Farook and Nilika de Silva

Amid debates over advertising of cigarettes, beer and other alcohol, the Presidential Task Force on Alcohol and Tobacco challenged industry claims that a ban on ads would result in increasing consumption of illicit liquor.

Task Force members debated the ad ban issue with top officials from Ceylon Tobacco Company (CTC) and Ceylon Brewery Ltd at a forum recently where Industry officials criticised the Task Force for not consulting any professional body about the consequences and the validity of their recommendations.

Ceylon Brewery Chief Executive Suresh Shah said the ban on alcohol ads would result in the increased consumption of illicit liquor.

Task Force member Dr. Diyanath Samarasinghe queried if this meant that advertising of alcohol did not lead to increased consumption of liquor while non advertising resulted in increased consumption of illicit liquor.

Police want ex-Tamil public servants

Retired Tamil speaking Government servants will be recruited to Police service, to record complaints by Tamils in Tamil, police said.

A police spokesman said the measure was being taken to avoid the shortcoming of Tamil speaking law enforcement officers in police stations to record complaints in Tamil.

He said that the move follows a large number of complaints to the newly established Anti-Harassment Committee by human rights groups and Tamil political parties that Tamils were undergoing hardships in police stations because there were not enough Tamil-speaking policemen.

Bankmen issue note of warning

Services at nine leading private sector banks will come to a standstill on Monday and Tuesday afternoons when the employees stop work as the first step to a major trade union action by the Ceylon Bank Employees Union over a salary dispute.

The union will continue the action upto September 30 when they conduct a walk out and protest rally.

Hatton National Bank, Commercial Bank, Hong Kong Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Habib Bank, Habib Bank AG Zurich, Indian Bank, State Bank of India, and Indian Overseas Bank are the banks concerned. The employees have been demanding a reasonable salary increase and other terms and conditions regarding allowances

But, "at the end of seven rounds of discussions the employers have made a few unreasonable and paltry offers of 15%, 6%, 3% increases senior and minor and new employees respectively," said M.R.Shah. General Secretary of the CBEU.

He said that they have issued a notice to the bank managements and if their action is ignored the Union is prepared to go to any length to win their demands.

"This action is only in Colombo but if no compromise is made we will not only extend it islandwide but intensify agitation campaigns with the inclusion of state sector banks," he said.

Rights report on border villages out in Dec.

By Nilika de Silva

The Fact Finding Citizens' Commission on Border Villages will present a full report and recommendations on December 10 to mark International Human Rights Day, an official said..

The commission .held a media conference to explain what it intended to do during the next two months.

The commission is active in eight districts - Puttalam, Anuradhapura, Vavuniya, Trincomalee, Polonnaruwa, Batticaloa, Ampara and Moneragala. Members will in the next two months hold public hearings in these districts.

Some of the areas the commission will look into are the difficulties faced by villagers in their traditional forms of livelihood.

One of the issues taken by the commission was the problem created by state sponsored schemes whereby outsiders are settled in areas where communities had lived in their traditional ways for generations. Athula Dissanayake of the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation speaking as a resident of Ampara said that he was aware of what took place in Ampara.

The people who had settled there had cleared forest land and it had not been a case of planting people from different areas to change ethnic ratios.

Answering a question by a journalist as to how often the members of the commission have visited the border villages they said they had visited Batticaloa , Kantale and Padaviya several times.

A question raised by a reporter from the Virakesari was 'you appear to be visiting Sinhalese border villages, what about the Tamil ones. Are you going to Pottuvil ?' To this the response was 'we are trying to go to Pottuvil.'

"We are going at the risk of our lives. Therefore the media has a big role to play," said a member of the Commission .

Professor Carlo Fonseka a member of the commission addressed the journalists on the objectives of their mission.

Sugath charge: soldiers queried

Two army men who are alleged to have threatened and humiliated Sri Lankan bronze medallist Sugath Tilakeratne at a checkpoint on September 24, have been questioned by Norwood police.

Army spokesman Brigadier Sunil Tennekoon has ordered a separate inquiry into the matter.

Mr. Tilakeratne, who won the bronze medal in the 400 metre event at the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur earlier this week, was on his way home from Malaysia with three others, when he was stopped at the checkpoint near Norton Bridge.

The army personnel had ordered the passengers out of the car, and searched Mr. Tilakeratne's baggage.

Mr. Tilakeratne alleged that one of the men had attempted to assault him and threatened to kill his brother, who was with him at the time.

When sick debate turned silly

By Dilrukshi Handunnetti our lobby Correspondent

A debate on the continuing ailing health sector was overshadowed on Wednes day in Parliament when Opposition members took up the latest unhealthy development in the judiciary -the arbitrary arrest of High Court Judge Mahanama Tilekeratne.

Recalling the era when judges' houses were stoned and lawyers killed in the most gruesome manner, Parliamentarians on both sides of the divide gleefully resorted to digging up the past and liberally trading insults-all signs of a healthy democracy, though the Speaker had to often curtly remind members that "every fellow is a judge here, judge of his own case".

The subject at hand was the Health Ministry's move to finance a nurses training institution affiliated to the Sri Jayawardenepura Hospital. Comparing the health sector to an untreated cholera patient, former Health Minister Renuka Herath listing the PA's achievements during the past four years, said the triple vaccine and saline fiascos had certainly stolen the show!

"Hospital charges have escalated under the PA, and now it seems to be cheaper to go to Nawaloka than to Sri Jayawardenepura Hospital," she alleged. The monumental achievements of this government, she said pausing for emphasis, were the many opportunities to cut ribbons and sashes of UNP- initiated projects.

Blaming both the Government and the Opposition for the reduction of welfare expenditure was PA firebrand Vasudeva Nanayakkara. He thundered that reduced welfare and medical care measures triggered off a chain reaction- increased poverty, malnutrition, cost of living and population boom, which finally gives rise to an unhealthy generation.

Firing away statistics to a House suddenly gone quiet, the Ratnapura member claimed the ratio here was one doctor for 3,579 patients as against Pakistan's one doctor for 200 patients and India's ratio of one for every 2,165.

Citing the Cuban example, he said " When Cuba was undergoing embargoes and its economy crashing , it still got its priorities right. They maintained a healthy rate of one doctor for every 171 individuals."

Throwing new light on the issue of medical care was burly Gampaha District Parliamentarian Joseph Michael Perera who stressed the need to conduct a thorough survey on the health problems of FTZ employees who contributed so much to the economy at the risk of their own health.

Soon the debate fell from the sublime to the ridiculous when Fez- adorned Sammanthurai member U.L.M. Mohideen congratulated the government for its achievement for donating the most number of ambulances in the post independence era.

With the donations of ambulances as the yard stick for evaluating health care in the country, he thanked the ministry for ensuring medical supplies to the war beleaguered North and the East.

"The UNP disregarded the suffering of the North East people and hence have forfeited the right to criticise the government which is doing a good job. Even the crumbs did not reach these people who were condemned to languish by an uncaring government," he thundered while Opposition members continued to heckle the irate member.

With the controversy over a secret meeting with LTTE Political Wing Leader Thamilchelvam swept under the carpet, it was UNP's physician turned politician Jayalath Jayawardene who rose to speak next.

The MP who has once again applied for clearance from the Ministry of Defence to visit the jungles of Wanni advocated the introduction of a national health policy and the immediate release of medical supplies to the war torn areas.

On a complaining note, he accused the government of undermining his work and blocking his path. " I am being crucified for the government's mistakes. You refuse to take the risk to visit these areas and want to prevent me from doing so, thereby refusing the refugees any possible assistance".

As expected, UNP's Mervyn Silva was at his insulting best and the government MPs were eager to form a league against him, heckling the Tissamaharama member repeatedly.

Introducing a fresh theory on medical negligence, the bespectacled MP argued, when a respected member of the judiciary was being maliciously prosecuted it was a reflection on the malady plaguing this democratic land.

As he continued his tirade comparing incidents of yore with those of the present, a tired Deputy Speaker Anil Moonesinghe repeatedly cautioned him to stick to the subject at hand- health. But the member persisted with zeal about a collective effort by the government, CID, AG and the Police to subvert justice and fair play.

Attacking the UNP and the PA on cost cutting tactics, thereby reducing welfare expenditure, SLPF's solitary member Nihal Galappathy lashed out saying it was no surprise that the country's health sector was a blooming disaster. As for the UNP, he quipped with glee, things were intellectually impossible as the fair minister was unable to distinguish between Aids and Ards. It was the controversial UNP member Dr. Rajitha Senarartne who wound up the debate. A virulent critic of the government, the dental surgeon turned politico baited the government benches to quick response by condemning the PA style of governance.

Burly Nimal Siripala de Silva was unrepentant about the large sum of money he has asked for the new nursing institute, but did not miss the opportunity to allege that a lot of soul searching had been done by Opposition members at his expense.

"Cholera is not PA- borne, nor is it government initiated," he said with a grin, sounding hopeful that a new institution built with fresh hopes might lead to a situation where the medical sector would be patient- friendly and sound.

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