“You may find that
the weather is not rough only at a certain time...but it stabilises after a
while. And the good thing is that Tanzania has no strong tides as compared to
neighbouring countries”Azam marine managing director hussein
said.PHOTO|FILE
By Fariji
Msonsa ,Citizen Reporter
Posted Thursday, January 9 2014 at 00:00
Posted Thursday, January 9 2014 at 00:00
In Summary
According to
Sumatra’s director of Maritime Safety and Security, Capt King Chiragi, most of
the owners of marine vessels are not knowledgeable on weather forecasts and sea
conditions.
Dar es Salaam. A day after the state forecaster said it duly gave a warning to
seafarers ahead of two marine accidents last weekend, the owner of one of the
ill-fated vessels has admitted having ignored the alert.
The Tanzania
Meteorological Agency (TMA) told The Citizen on Monday that it cautioned sea
users over high waves and tides, information which is normally given for 24
hours through media and at least twice a day through TMA officers at ports.
But yesterday, Azam
Marine, the owner of Kilimanjaro II which was hit by waves off Zanzibar’s
Nungwi Bay and killed at least five and left 18 others missing, said such
warnings are unreliable due to regular weather changes.
The firm’s managing
director, Mr Hussein Said, told The Citizen that regular alerts from TMA were
not reliable since they were too general and covered over 24 hours while
conditions at sea kept changing at least every three hours.
“We get information
and alerts from TMA, but since they are for 24 hours...we do not rely much on
them,” said Mr Said.
Adding that, “you
may find that the weather is not rough only at a certain time...but it
stabilises after a while. And the good thing is that Tanzania has no strong
tides as compared to neighbouring countries.” However, the fate of marine
passengers in the country seems to remain in the hands of captains who receive
intensive safety training, according to the Surface and marine Transport
Regulatory Authority (Sumatra).
According to
Sumatra’s director of Maritime Safety and Security, Capt King Chiragi, most of
the owners of marine vessels are not knowledgeable on weather forecasts and sea
conditions.
He said it was the
captains who have familiarity with meteorological conditions as they are taught
thoroughly on the subject. Therefore, it is upon them to decide whether to act
on the alerts given by TMA or proceed with their journeys, he added.
“The users of the
information given by TMA are the captains, not the owners
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