Collision at sea: no ruling on fault
Marine inquiry in 2013 Talisay smash-up refused to tag the offending ship
Follow-up stories on any major collision of vessels at sea inevitably focus on how it happened and who was at fault. The public wants to know how the sea, being wider than most road arteries, could still be the site of ships sideswiping, ramming or otherwise hitting each other. And which vessel was to blame?
Last Saturday, Feb. 18, at about 10 p.m., mv St. Braquiel of 2Go Travel hit mtb SMC 8, injuring at least 58 passengers of the ferry and damaging the tugboat as both ships negotiated the MBF Bridge spanning Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu cities.
Second-day stories in the papers began tracing which ship was to blame.
Same thing when last Aug. 16, 2013, mv St. Thomas Aquinas collided with mv Sulpicio Express 7 off Lawis Ledge in Talisay City. That drew much bigger public interest than the recent accident because at least 116 people were killed off Lawis and no one died in that bridge accident.
Speculations
Arguments and speculations on situs of fault were all over then: Was it St. Thomas Aquinas for failure to give way? As they’d be rampant about the new collision: was it the tugboat being unlighted or the alleged over-speeding of St. Braquiel?
Public opinion will be influenced by testimonies and reports on the marine inquiry and Marina probe. Meantime, public judgment is suspended until BMI in Manila releases its finding.
But you know what? When BMI ruled last July 3, 2014 on the Talisay smashup, it said it could not determine liability and thus wouldn’t name the offending party. BMI’s job, it said, is to help avoid future accidents.
Other concerns
The public may ask instead about other concerns, such as whether:
--The vessel traffic management system (VTMS) for the Cebu port, which was set to start last year yet, is already operating;
--Navigation buoys, recommended after the Talisay tragedy, are already in place.
And people may persuade vessel owners to stop naming a ship after a saint. Patronizing and unfair to burden a saint with the safety of the vessel and the people it carries, which might prompt the owner to relax on safety standards.