Do not share photos, videos of Triso tragedy on social media: Julaihi
Published on: Saturday, January 02, 2021
By: Bernama
KUCHING: The public is reminded not to share photos or videos of the incident where a four-wheel-drive vehicle plunged into Sungai Batang Lupar from the Triso ferry jetty in Sri Aman, Friday, that claimed the lives of nine people on social media.
Sarawak Infrastructure and Ports Development Assistant Minister Datuk Julaihi Narawi in a statement, Saturday, said this was to respect the feelings of the victims’ family.
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He also expressed his condolences to all family members of the victims who perished in the incident.
Meanwhile, Julaihi said Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr James Jemut Masing is scheduled to visit the location where the incident took place later Saturday.
Masing will be accompanied by senior officers from the State Public Works Department and the Sarawak Rivers Board (SRB), said Julahi who is also the Sebuyau assemblyman.
In the 3pm incident that took place about 120km from here, the driver of the vehicle was said to have lost control of the vehicle, which dove into the river, killing all nine passengers.
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The Ford Ranger, driven by a woman identified as Ronany Ting, 33, was on its way to Kuching from Kapit, via the Jalan Beladin-Meludam route.
Also killed in the incident were Siti Aisha Abdullah, 36, Nor Shuhada Mohamad, 16, Khairunnisa Muhamad, 14, Alvin Phang, 12, as well as three children, Wallace Phang and Mohd Aiman Mohd Hamdan, both seven, Muhd Mustaqim Mohd Hamdan, aged five and a four-month-old infant, Mohd Ahmad Mohd Hamdan.
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Meanwhile, strong guard railings will be built at all ferry crossing points in Sarawak to prevent a recurrence of Friday’s tragedy, said Deputy Chief Minister II Tan Sri Dr James Jemut Masing.
Masing, who is also Sarawak Infrastructure Development and Ports Minister, said today that the state Public Works Department (JKR) had been instructed to start erecting guard rails immediately.
“With the strong guard rails, nothing can fall off (from the ferry boarding and alighting point). This will be with immediate effect. It must be understood that the car (4WD) fell from the ferry landing point… not from the ferry (as some people had thought),” he told reporters after visiting the Triso Ferry Point.
Masing said the tragedy served 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 their vehicle before it is driven through the landing ramp into the ferry, and only board the vehicle after it has exited the ferry at the other point of landing, he said.
“We have to enforce these SOPs that had been introduced 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 had allocated about RM3 billion to build bridges across rivers that require ferries for crossing in its Second Trunk Road project linking all the 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 doing (building) it now,” he said.
Masing said the Sarawak government was willing to use its own funds to build these bridges because it realised the infrastructure was 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 investigations 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.
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