"We are now carrying out an audit on the safety standards and procedures of shipping companies or boat operators in view of the many tragic accidents that have happened at sea lately," Transportation Minister Freddy Numberi said here Friday.
The audits would include verification of the qualifications and competence of skippers or ship captains, Freddy said, noting that a recent accident in the Barito river in South Kalimantan was "purely" caused by a mistake made by the skipper.
He said through the audit, the government wanted to identify the main factors underlying the high frequency of shipping or boat accidents.
If the audit showed a shipping company or boat operator to have failed to comply with or to be in violation of existing safety rules or standards in its operations, certain sanctions would be imposed on it, he said.
"For instance, we will first give the company or operator concerned a reprimand. If after three reprimands, it does not mend its ways, we will revoke its sailing license. We must teach such companies or operators a lesson, " Freddy said.
Referring to the case of the MV Marina IX which caught fire at Surabaya`s Tanjung Perak port, the minister said the incident was now still being investigated, and an audit on the safety standards and procedures of the shipping company concerned had also been started.
"We want to know why the fire happened in the first place. About the fact that a number of its passengers were killed, we already know that they were trampled under in a rush to leave the ship," Freddy said. (*)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
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