Zoomlion Donates 3,000 Life Jackets To Boat Owners

By Gifty Arthur

The Volta Regional Manager of Zoomlion Ghana, Mr. Anthony Adzonani, has advised residents and users of the Volta Lake to use materials that are provided for protection of life and property when they travel on the lake,.

Mr. Adzonani made the call at Tapa Abotoase in the Volta Region, a town from where the victims of last Tuesday’s boat disaster departed.

The short presentation ceremony which attracted officials of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) district co-ordinating directors, officials from the Ghana Maritime Authority, Assembly Members, Ghana Navy Commanders and residents, was prompted by the recent boat disaster that occured last Tuesday near Kete Krachi.

Mr. Adzonani said that the disaster which claimed several lives could have been prevented if the people in the boat had used the free jackets provided by Zoil Ghana.

Lives, he said, are precious, and for the people to be on board the boat for several hours, from Tapa Aboteose, through Kete Krachie to Sene in the Brong Ahafo Region, it was only proper that they secured themselves by wearing the live jackets.

Mr. Adzonani said it was unacceptable and regrettable for some of the passengers to claim that the jackets produce a lot of heat, and so could not wear them.

Even though lives have, unfortunately, been lost due to several reasons, he said the company is committed to the eradication of such jelly incidents which are usually caused by human errors.

He said this was demonstrated when in 2009, the company launched, distributed, and trained some of the youth on how to use live jackets and rescue accident victims on the lake.

The live jackets, he said should be provided to everyone who patronizes the boats, and reminded management that under no circumstance should they allow anyone to travel with life jackets; they should ensure that every traveler uses one.

The chairman of the boat owners association, Mr. Raphael Botwe, said that earlier reports by a section of the media that the boat was over loaded could not be true as he insisted he strongly believes that it was caused by the growing number of trees in the lake.

He buttressed his claim by saying that currently, the boat is stucked under the water and that it has not yet been removed which makes them believe that the earlier report was false.

He said as boat owners, they usually teach their drivers the dangers that are associated with the use of the boats, adding that last week’s incident which occurred at night, had 93 people on board including women and children.

Mr. Botwe entreated the media and volunteers who give information to desist from giving out inaccurate information since they induce tension

He said, so far, rescuers have been able to retrieve only 26 dead bodies out of the 93, adding that although attempts by rescuer to salvage all the victims have not been successful he believes that not all the 93 could be dead since some of them might have swam to safety.

The District Chief Executive of Biakoye, Nana Louis Akatah, pleaded with the public not to politicize the unfortunate disaster since it happened because of actions and inactions of people who could have done better to save the situation.

He charged the Ghana Maritime Authority and the Ghana Navy Commanders to adopt new and proper ways of monitoring the activities of the drivers and passengers on board the boats.

He said the situation where travelers wear the life jackets just to demonstrate and later remove them when there is nobody around watching, should be monitored with keen interest to enforce strict adherence to the use of the jackets.

Presently, he said, only five of the navy commanders are at post in the town, and requested for more men and necessary accoutrements like speed boats to facilitate work, both at the mornings and on board.

Whilst congratulating Zoil Ghana for the jackets, Mr. Akatah entreated the company to continue to supply the boat owners with the necessary materials like more jackets to prevent boat disasters.

A Navy officer who spoke on anonymity, said that for them to work diligently and efficiently, they needed to be provided with between 12 to 15 speed boats.