Board of Inquiry submits report into Harbour Bridge accident
The Board of Inquiry (BoI), which was set up to investigate the accident at the Demerara Harbour Bridge, on Friday handed over its report to the Ministry of Public Works.
Captain Joseph Lewis - a Marine Officer and Surveyor of Ships, led the team and delivered the report, assuring the Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill that every check was made.
Additionally, he indicated that interviews were conducted to gather information to compile the report.
“Being a marine surveyor that deals with international ship, I have very high standards, and with this report here, I am very impressed, it has met my standard, and we hope it will also meet your standard, Minister,” Lewis noted.
The report was handed over in the presence of the other BOI members: Thandi McAllister - Director of Legal Affairs at MARAD, Yolanda Hughes - Member of the Board and a Staff of Transport and Harbours Department, Inspector Carlos Ross of the Marine Division of the Guyana Police Force, Lt. Col. David Shamsudeen - Coast Guard, Patrick Thompson - Chief Transport & Planning Officer MOPW and Dimitri Ali, Member of the Board of Directors of the Guyana National Shipping Corporation.
At about 02:00h on Saturday last, fuel tanker MV Tradewind Passion, which is assigned to GuyOil, collided with the Demerara Harbour Bridge, rendering it inoperable.
The bridge was open to ocean-going vessels at the time, and maintenance works were ongoing.
After working around the clock, contractors managed to reopen the floating structure to light vehicular traffic from 21:00h on Monday.
However, on a sideline of an event on Thursday, Minister Edghill noted that over $1 billion was spent to get the floating structure back up and running.
