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KUCHING: Strong guardrails will be built at all ferry crossing points in Sarawak to prevent a repeat of yesterday’s tragedy, when an all-terrain vehicle (4WD) sank off Sungai Batang Lupar in Sri Aman, said II Chief Deputy Minister Tan Sri, Dr. James Jemut Masing. .
Masing, who is also Sarawak’s Minister of Port and Infrastructure Development, said today that the state Department of Public Works (JKR) was instructed to begin erecting guardrails immediately.
“With the strong railings, nothing can fall (from the ferry boarding and disembarking point). This will take effect immediately. You have to understand that the car (4WD) fell from the landing point of the ferry … not the ferry (as some people had thought) ”, he told reporters after visiting Triso’s Ferry Point, which is about 120 km from here.
A four-month-old baby was among nine people who died after the 4WD vehicle they were riding in spiraled out of control and sank into the river at the ferry point around 3:00 p.m.
The victims had been identified as the driver of the vehicle, Ronany Ting, 33; Siti Aisha Abdullah, 36; Ni Shuhada Mohamad, 16; Khairunnisa Muhamad, 14 years old; Alvin Phang, 12 years old; Wallace Phang and Mohd Aiman Mohd Hamdan, both seven; Muhd Mustaqim Mohd Hamdan, five; and the infant, Mohd Ahmad Mohd Hamdan.
Masing said the tragedy served as a grim reminder of the need to strictly follow standard operating procedures (SOPs) for using such facilities.
According to the SOPs, all occupants of the car, except the driver, are required to disembark from their vehicle before going through the landing ramp to the ferry, and only board the vehicle after it has exited the ferry at the other landing point, said.
“We have to enforce these standard operating procedures that have been in place for quite some time,” he said, adding that all users must follow the instructions of the ferry guards at all times.
According to him, the state government had allocated approximately RM3 billion to build bridges across rivers that require ferries to cross on its Second Trunk Road project linking all coastal areas of the state.
“The state government had to finance it as the previous Pakatan Harapan (federal) government canceled all the bridge projects. The Batang Lupar bridge costs around RM848 million (to replace the Triso ferry service) and we are building it now, ”he said. – Called
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