KUCHING – Strong guard rails will be built at all ferry crossing points in Sarawak to prevent a recurrence of yesterday’s tragedy, where a four-wheel drive plunged into Sg Batang Lupar in Sri Aman, said Deputy Chief Minister II Tan Sri James Jemut Masing.
Masing, who is also the Sarawak Infrastructure Development and Ports Minister, said today that the state Public Works Department (JKR) has been instructed to start erecting guard rails immediately.
“With the strong guard rails, nothing can fall off (from the ferry boarding and alighting points). This will be carried out with immediate effect. It must be understood that the car fell from the ferry landing point, not from the ferry (as some people had thought),” he told reporters after visiting the Triso ferry point, about 120km from here.
A 4-month-old baby was among nine people who died after the vehicle they were in lost control and plunged into the river at the ferry point at about 3pm yesterday.
The victims have been identified as the driver of the vehicle, Ronany Ting (33), Siti Aisha Abdullah (36), Nor Shuhada Mohamad (16), Khairunnisa Muhamad (14), Alvin Phang (12), Wallace Phang (7), Mohd Aiman Mohd Hamdan (7), Muhd Mustaqim Mohd Hamdan (5), and 4-month-old infant, Mohd Ahmad Mohd Hamdan.
Masing said the tragedy serves as a grim reminder of the need to strictly follow the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for using such facilities.
According to the SOPs, all car occupants except the driver must disembark from the vehicle before it is driven through the landing ramp onto the ferry, and only board the vehicle after it has exited the ferry at the landing point, he said.
“We have to enforce these SOPs that have been around for quite some time now,” he said, adding that all users should follow the ferry guards’ instructions at all times.
According to him, the state government has allocated about RM3 billion to build bridges across rivers that require ferries for crossing in its Second Trunk Road project, which aims to link all coastal areas in the state.
“The state government had to fund it as the previous Pakatan Harapan (federal) government cancelled all the bridge projects. The Batang Lupar bridge costs about RM848 million (to replace the Triso ferry service) and we are (building) it now,” he said.
Masing said the Sarawak government is willing to use its own funds to build these bridges because the infrastructure is important for the people.
“This (bridge project) is very important for us and we decided to use our funds to make sure that the bridges are done by 2025 or 2026,” he said.
He said that investigations into the Sg Triso incident so far showed that the tragedy was due to an accident.
On behalf of the state government, he extended his condolences to the families of the victims.
He also thanked members of the public who jumped into the river to try to save the victims.
“Their actions show that Sarawak, we care for each other. They tried their best to (save the victims),” he added. – Bernama, January 2, 2021
