Dear Editor,
I would like to highlight an incident I experienced recently. My colleague and I were on our way home from Wakenaam by speed boat. While waiting to board, passengers were advised by the operator of Mikey’s Speedboat Service to allow cargo to be packed first. This consisted of several boxes well filled, and two bags of live ducks. When the passengers were allowed to board we numbered twenty-two including the captain and bowman of the vessel. A few of us, passengers expressed some concerns vocally to the captain when we observed that he was not preparing to take off but appeared to be awaiting more passengers. We had just taken off when the captain received instructions to return to the mooring to collect two more passengers. Amidst great vocal tirades the captain obeyed his superior and tied the boat to the mooring to await the passengers. To our dismay not two, but four passengers were coming towards the vessel. The captain began to verbally express his displeasure and left the speedboat to venture onto the landing to meet with his superior. He returned to the boat and admitted two out of the four passengers.
As the captain returned to the speedboat with his bowman, numerous passengers again voiced their concerns to both the bowman and captain who ignored us all. As the bowman was about to secure the flap at the opening of the speedboat I personally addressed him. I said “Bowman is this boat overloaded?” He looked at me and nodded. Well, I was wondering did he hear me correctly, is he saying yes to me and still securing the flap for takeoff? So I repeated my question to him and again he nodded. So I asked him to please let off the excess passengers but he totally ignored me. Why did I not request to leave the vessel? I did, only to be informed by the passenger next to me that what was happening was a daily occurrence and if I left the boat to await the other scheduled crossing, chances were that the same thing would happen again.
So we left on a speedboat overloaded with twenty-four persons, several boxes and two bags of live ducks. So much fear was in that boat that suffice to say that many prayers were said during that trip. Soon after, a heavy downpour caught us early into our journey and we were forced to lower the other flap on the side of the boat (one side was already down). So we had no visual of the journey. But, approximately ten minutes into the journey, the captain stopped the boat in the corner by some bushes, instructed his bowman to tie same to the bushes and called back to base on his cell phone asking for a boat to be sent to relieve him of at least six passengers. So there we were bobbing in the river for approximately ten minutes until another boat minus any shed came and the transfer of passengers was made. We then continued uneventfully to Parika.
We are asking the relevant authorities to look into these irregularities. The captain had no right to take off with an overloaded boat. He knew the capacity of the vessel and had reservations but still took the risk with our lives. If Mikey is offering a service to the public, he needs to ensure the safety of his passengers by not putting them at risk. If the Government cannot provide a regular public ferry service to Wakenaam then systems need to be put in place so that private entities operate with stipulated Transport and Harbours rules.
Yours faithfully,
Karen Elcock and
Samantha Bryan
