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Preventing launch disaster

19 July 2005, 18:00 PM
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
By Salahuddin Ahmad On e-mail
19 July 2005, 18:00 PM
I have read with interest the letter written by Mr. S.A. Mansoor on the captioned subject and published in your July 10 issue. It is with regret that I have to say that it is not possible to prevent a launch from sinking while it encounters moderately rough weather or meets a collision. It is because the launches are not built to withstand rough weather or collision. In support of my foregoing statement I would like to draw the attention of the readers to the fact that it is only launches that are involved in the disasters that took place in our waterways since liberation. Passenger ships operated by BIWTC have never been involved in any such incident. Not even the two 40 years old passenger ships operating regularly between Chittagong and Barisal. These two ships regularly cross the turbulent Bay and for the past forty years these ships have done so without any major incident.

This is because of the simple reason that the contraption we call launch do not have to comply with "International Conversion on load line" whereas load line convention has to be followed in vessels and ships. During load line survey the watertight integrity of the vessel is ensured and certified. You may have seen in movies that ships encountering rough weather gets completely submerged under huge waves and again resurfaces because the vessel is watertight and no water can enter the vessel cargo hold compartments, accommodation and engine room. The intact watertight integrity allows sufficient buoyancy to keep the ship afloat.

In conclusion, I would like to mention here that we have to live with launch disasters as long as these dangerous contraptions are allowed to ply in our rivers.

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