THE Board of Inquiry (BoI) investigating the collision of the fuel tanker Tradewind Passion into the Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB) on Friday handed over its completed report to Public Works Minister, Bishop Juan Edghill.

The report was handed over by Captain Joseph Lewis, a Marine Officer and Surveyor of Ships, who led the seven-member team that carried out the investigation. The report was submitted within the seven-day timeline given to the BoI.

According to a statement from the Public Works Ministry, Lewis assured Minister Edghill that every check was made, and all necessary 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 was quoted as saying.

Captain Lewis also expressed the team’s gratitude of being entrusted with such a mandate by the minister.
The report was handed over in the presence of the other BoI members — Maritime Administration (MARAD) Director of Legal Affairs, Thandi McAllister; Member of the Board and a Staff of Transport and Harbours Department, Yolanda Hughes; Inspector Carlos Ross of the Marine Division of the Guyana Police Force; Lieutenant Colonel, David Shamsudeen from the Coast Guard; MoPW Chief Transport and Planning Officer, Patrick Thompson and member of the Board of Directors of the Guyana National Shipping Corporation, Dimitri Ali.

At approximately 02:00hrs on Saturday, the MV Tradewind Passion, a ship consigned by GuyOil to transport fuel, which also carries a Panamanian flag, crashed into the bridge.
The ship, which was supposed to drive in a southern direction to pass through the opening of the bridge, instead drove in a south-easterly direction and hit Spans Nine and Ten with its front and rear.

This resulted in the two spans of the bridge shifting some 45 degrees out of alignment. The ship was the fifth vessel to pass through the bridge for the morning. Following the collision, the vessel has since been impounded and the pilot and crew were confined to the vessel.

The collision sent several DHB workers, who were on the bridge at the time, literally running for their lives. One staff, Andrew Duke, who was communicating with the vessel via radio up until the point of collision, sustained a fractured leg, and has been released from the hospital and expected to make a full recovery.

Following assiduous work by the DHB staff and support from the private sector, the bridge was reopened to vehicles weighing up to 12 tonnes on Monday night. It was later announced that vehicles weighting up to 18 tonnes would be able to cross the bridge under special conditions.