The district administration has issued new guidelines for vessels travelling to St Martin’s following a devastating fire on a tourist vessel.
The decision was taken at an emergency meeting on vessel operations held on Saturday evening at the district commissioner’s conference room, presided over by Deputy Commissioner MA Mannan.
The meeting decided that no tourist vessel will be allowed to depart for St Martin’s unless fire safety systems and vessel fitness are ensured one hundred percent.
Deputy Commissioner MA Mannan said that, as an immediate step to ensure tourist safety, the Department of Shipping, the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority and the Fire Service have been instructed to recheck the fitness and fire safety systems of all operational vessels by Saturday night.
Only vessels that pass the inspection will be permitted to operate St Martin’s routes from Sunday.
He said arrangements will also be made to shift passengers from vessels whose trips are cancelled to other district administration-approved vessels to avoid inconvenience.
The meeting was informed that an investigation committee has been formed to determine the cause of the fire on the vessel The Atlantic Cruise.
A separate five-member committee, led by an additional district magistrate, has also been formed to submit recommendations to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Earlier, a devastating fire broke out on the St Martin’s-bound vessel The Atlantic Cruise at the Nuniarchhara BIWTA jetty in Cox’s Bazar around 6:00am on Saturday, killing one person.
