There was a freak accident on the 29th May 2008 around afternoon around 1245. I received the news from a colleague of mine and I rushed to the scene to have a look. This report/article should reach the audience before the local newspaper reach the readers this morning.
A container ship rammed into the Tua Pek Kong Pavilion while trying to alongside the port. Observe how close the port are and the pavilion (see my previous post photo, taken from inside the port area). It is just basically next to each other. There are some common possibilities that lead to this incident such as strong river current, lapse of concentration or wrong judgement by the ship's Master, main engine failure and steering gear failure during the mooring time.
The ship is a regular to Sibu, MV Giseng, owned by Perkapalan Dai Zhun. The collision with the pavilion had created a big hole at the forward stem area, above the bow of the ship. The hole expose the forepeak tank. The ship shall not sail far with this condition and require immediate repair before assuming operation again. The orange inflatable boat should be from the Marine Department and they are investigating the accident
Here are a few images taken at different angles to show the damage. I believe the damage could well reach millions. The company better have a P & I Club to cover this losses. The 4 support pillar collapse and the shelter crash to the ground, damaging the railing, the expensive roofs, swan statues, lights and probably marble chair. The quayside should be damage slightly as well.
From the damage the ship sustained as well as the pavilion, I suspect the ship PORT side bow graced the pavilion concrete quayside edge and taking down at least 2 support pillars in the process. The other 2 support pillars gave way as they lost support and the shelter collapse down. The ship could have over shot and fail to return to a safe position while mooring.
I do plan to write about the Tua Pek Kong and its pavilion in my future post. Guess the sight might never be the same again. I always suspect it is quite dangerous to built such a structure near a port area as there should be sufficient clearance so ships could moor safely to the quayside. This is another failure by the politician here to make proper assessment before commencing a mega project.
A pavilion at Chiang Chuan Garden, next to the Tua Pek Kong temple in Sibu was toppled over again after been hit by a container vessel while trying to berth at the adjacent Rejang Port Authority. The incident happened on 17th August 2009 around 0800.
I covered the first incident here, May last year. This is the second incident in the span of less than 18 months. No one was hurt in the both incident. Thank God to that!
Luckily this time around it is not this shed that was hit or else all the money which goes to rebuilt this structure will be flushed down the nearby Rejang River. This shed has been rebuilt due to the first incident.
This is the ship which knocked the pavilion. There are 101 reasons as to what cause the accident but it is just poor seamanship in my opinion. I heard the ship overshot its position (probably he should navigate it slowly rather than throttle the engine) while trying to alongside the port and hence try to reverse the vessel before hitting the pavilion. It was said that the reversing function was not working properly. Somehow there is no physical damage to the ship after the impact.
I think they should had not have constructed the garden in the first place due to its close proximity to the port. It really amaze me that they never think of the consequences before. Wonder what is the preventive measures to prevent the recurrence of such incident again in the future.
