Getting to the root of oil, LPG tanker fires

The reports of a series of mysterious fire incidents in oil and LPG tankers between September 30 and the small hours of October 13 are disconcerting. So far two oil tankers owned by Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC) caught fires on September 30 and October 5 respectively, one at a jetty of the Chittagong port and the other at the port's outer anchorage. The other fire incident reportedly took place at around 1 a.m. on Sunday (October 13) when a mothership named Captain Nicholas was unloading Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), imported allegedly from questionable origin, to a lightering vessel named, B LPG Sofia, at the outer anchorage west of Kutubdia in the Bay. So, questions are being naturally raised if those tanker fires happening one after another were merely coincidental or if those hand any unholy link at a time when there is shortage of fossil fuel in the country.

In the case of the LPG tankers, it took hours---from 12.55 am in the morning to around 12 noon on Sunday--- to bring the blaze at the lightering vessel under control. But the original blaze on the tanker carrying the bulk of the LPG could reportedly be extinguished within three hours. Amid the horrifying incidents of fire, the good news is there was no report of death in the latest case of LPG tanker fires as the 31 people from both the mothership and lightering vessel could be rescued thanks to the efforts of the Bangladesh Coast Guard, the Navy and other rescuers involved. However, the earlier fires at the BSC-owned oil tankers, especially the one that broke out on September 30 engulfing the vessel named, Banglar Jyoti, at a Chittagong port jetty, reportedly claimed three lives. In that case, there should be investigations into why and how the tragedy occurred. The Coast Guard which is learnt to have initiated an inquiry into the oil tanker-related fire incidents to unearth if those were pure accidents or acts of sabotage should advisably also include a probe into the circumstances under which the three people in the first case of oil tanker fire died.

In another development, the probe committee that the CPA formed at the directive of the Shipping and Textiles Adviser to investigate the LPG vessels fire is reportedly tasked with the responsibility of finding out, among other issues, the cause of the fire, assessing the international standards for LPG transportation, assessing the suitability of the transported LPG, determining the damage and the liabilities in connection with the fire and coming up with recommendations for preventing such fires in the future. Evidently, these are routine and part of the formula approaches adopted in every case of fire and the results are often predictable. To make a difference, the CPA-initiated probe body might take the allegation lodged by the LPG Operators Association of Bangladesh (LOAB) into consideration that Captain Nicholas, the mother vessel as well as the other LPG-laden tanker, Gaz GMS (not mentioned earlier) provided false report about the origin of the LPG. Whatever the countries of origin of the LPG being transported by the tankers in question, the carriers or their agents must provide the port, customs or any other authorities concerned with correct information. Otherwise, it is not only the vessels or their agents, the receiving country may also fall foul of international maritime laws or face sanctions related to any cargo or the country where the cargo originated from.

Hopefully, the probe committees so formed would exercise due diligence to avoid any lapse in getting to the root of the oil and LPG tanker fires.