On Sunday, two little girls were killed in an explosion on a water taxi which was docked at the Ocean Ferry Terminal, at the foot of the Swing Bridge.Â
Had there been no ICJ referendum, that incident would have been the biggest story of this week’s national news.Â
But the explosion that caused the deaths of 10 year-old Yamiri Guy, and her sister, 8 year-old Kimberly Guy, slipped under the avalanche of referendum information. Â
Still, a family is without those two precious lives, in deep and unimaginable grief and, so, today we went to the Port Authority for answers. They are the primary regulator of vessels on the sea.
In this case, they are part of a a multi-agency task force, trying to find out what happened on Sunday afternoon around 3:00 when 34 passengers were boardingÂ
the vessel, owned by San Pedro Water Jets International. They had already fueled up the boat, and were ready to depart for the islands when there was an explosion which killed the girls, and severely injured their stepfather, Jaime Iteriano. Roseli Catch was also caught by the blast, but she suffered minor injuries. 10 more passengers, including 2 Canadian tourists, and 6 US nationals, were also caught in the blast. Ocean Ferry flew them back to their home countries, where they sought medical attention.
The local authorities said that they found evidence of a fuel leak at the stern, they suspect that some source of electricity ignited the fumes, which spontaneously combusted.
This evening, the Assistant Commissioner of the Port told us what they have learned since Sunday:
Sherlett Martinez - Asst. Ports Commissioner, BPA
"The investigation has not seized, it's on going. So far, we have sent a sample of what we suspect was fuel inbuilt to the forensic experts. We have also have conducted a more detail inspection of the vessel where we went under the flooring and we are currently, as we speak, checking the fuel lines of that vessel and the tank that's below the flooring of the vessel. We have still not concluded anything yet, as I've mentioned the investigation is ongoing but as soon as we can confirm positively what is the cause we will share that with the public."
Daniel Ortiz
"When is the last time that this vessel from the San Pedro Water Jets Express been inspected by the Belize Port Authority?"
Sherlett Martinez
"Annually we inspect vessels for renewal of their licenses as well for first time, first time owners. The sea readiness certificate is expired on the 31st of December of each year and this particular vessel was inspected around the 7th of December, 2018. It passed its inspection and it was reissued with a new certificate for this current year."
Daniel Ortiz
"Is there someone to be held liable, either the company's owners for the water taxi ocean ferry or the company that owns the vessel, San Pedro Water Jets?"
Sherlett Martinez
"There will be somebody that will be held responsible, no doubt - however, we have to wait until the investigation is concluded before we can determine who would be at fault in this case."
This conversation also gave us an opportunity to question the Assistant Commissioner about the oversight and regulation of water taxis.Â
As you heard, the last time they inspected this vessel from San Pedro Water Jets International was in December of last year. So, we asked Martinez about the frequency of these types of inspections:
Daniel Ortiz
"Is there any other inspections that takes places with these vessels for sea readiness a part from that?"
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Sherlett Martinez
"Well a part from if the Port Authority would get a report of maybe there was an engine problem with a vessel. If we get reports of any defect of a vessel, then we would prohibit that vessel from sailing and then we would also check the vessel and lifting the prohibition if we are satisfied that it's once again sea worthy."
Daniel Ortiz
"Is there any way that the Port Authorities seeks to safe guard the public's interest and public safety for water taxis per say, with more regular inspections?"
Sherlett Martinez
"At the moment, as I said, we conduct annual inspection of these vessels. We hold the masters and the owners responsible to report to the Port Authority if they have any issues with their vessel, any emergency, the law makes provision, any emergency that makes your vessel unsafe. You have an obligation under the law to report that to the Port Authority and we in turn will check your vessel and we will give you whatever recommendation or instructions that we think is necessary for you to put in place before we render your vessel safe to be on our waters."
Daniel Ortiz
"Has the oversight of vessels on Belizean waters increased to match proportionally the growth in the number of water taxis that traverse Belizean waters?"
Sherlett Martinez
"Well we do have officers based at water taxi daily, of course for specific reasons, as again, once we inspect a vessel and we render it safe to on the waters, the onus is on the owner and the operator to ensure that they maintain that vessel according to the safety standards you know. It's difficult for the Port Authority to be daily checking your vessels for you, you have that responsibility to the travelling community, the passengers that you server, that when you get into your water taxi, it is safe. The Port Authority will do all it can do to ensure that gets done and where we can enforce our wars in terms of penalties, we do that."
Daniel Ortiz
"Now I can certainly understand the challenges for resources purposes of trying to maintain a presence at all of these water taxis country wide, but in this particular situation it's almost like the boat owners themselves are acting more like the oversight than the Port Authority ma'am."
Sherlett Martinez
"I would totally disagree, the Port Authority has been every day at these water taxis and we have started to be present on weekends now - where before we didn't you know. So I would not say that the oversight is left in their hands, we have been there, we have tried our best from our angle, we have put in place different measures to make sure that water taxi operators do what is in the best interest of the community and operating in a safe manner. After we have issued a sea readiness certificate, after we have inspected your vessel, issue a sea readiness certificate, we expect that owners maintain their vessels to required safety standards, so that a situation like this does not reoccur. Owners need to ensure that they check their machinery spaces of their vessel as this case seems to be an issue from that angle. They need to ensure that the proper equipment are on board, safety appliances are on board their vessels."
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