Boat fire sparks blame game in Juba after goods worth millions destroyed

JUBA, SEPTEMBER 14, 2023 (SUDANS POST) – South Sudan government authorities said good worth millions of pounds were damaged on Wednesday morning when a boat heading to Fangak County in Jonglei State caught fire just before leaving.

Nicholas Ramadan, Gabat Port Manager, told Sudans Post that the boat was carrying goods and diesel. He said the diesel was not approved by the port authorities.

“The incident happened at Gabat port, not inside the port, the person who brought the diesel is called John Kuten, but there was no approval from the port administration, they didn’t come to the office to take the approval,” he said.

Ramadan added that the incident happened at 9:05AM and there were no injuries. He indicated that the traders owning the goods had registered with the office, but did not report the fuel, something he said would help in avoiding the incident.

According to Ramadan, the boat is owned by someone he identified as Ring Gai with an assistant crew member named Gatwech Biel.

“The boat horsepower is 150/150/4 Yamala, while fuel driver is called Omer Ibrahim, while boat capacity is 120 ton, while the name of the fuel company is called Bridge Petrol,” Ramadan said.

He added that the boat was also loaded with relief items besides the goods meant for business citing that the outburst was surely caused by the empty drum that was not washed. Though he could not give the exact loses, the goods amount to millions of South Sudanese pounds.

BLAME GAME

Port inspector Modu Nelson told Sudans Post that she came to work early in the morning and did not see the boat and that she learned of the boat at the time it caught fire.

“I came in the morning earlier, and started a movement from around the port but didn’t see this boat. Few minutes I came and sat down in the office all of a sudden, we heard a noise, when I came out of the office, when I asked what happened and where did this fuel come from, she said.

“It happens that this people (owner of boat) entered through world food (compound) and did not process and never enquired from any office, none of the people in the port knows that there was diesel in there in the boat, we were surprised by the fire outbreak,” she narrated.

She said the incident is not the responsibility of the port, blaming the boat owners for not registering with the port management.

“When I went to world food (compound) and asked it happens that it was them who went there and the guide keeper opened for them the door and they loaded their fuel, so it’s not the responsibility of the port,” she said.

“Because, when a person come, they come and register so the administration can know that there is fuel/diesel being brought, so we can also confirm that the drum being use for carrying diesel/fuel are clean, because there is a substance in fuel/diesel, if it’s just touch the fuel/diesel its causes fire, am sure the drum were not wash clean,” she added.

She said that she spoke “to the owner of diesel/fuel and I asked if he has registered before loading but his response was ‘no’ adding that he only went to the world food (compound) and the guide keeper open the door.”

Sudans Post cannot verify if this account is true as we haven’t yet got confirmation from Kuten and Gai, the owners of the boat.

Nelson when further to accuse those guarding the Gabat world food compound of sidelining their administration.

“They (owner of the boat) came earlier at 6:00AM and here the offices open at 8:00AM. We normally coordinate with world food people but today they did it alone,” she said.

But the watchman at world food Gabat compound, Dut Jacklual, defended himself stating that it’s not the first time the boat owners requested for his assistant to use their door for entrance in order to access their boats.

“This guy (owner of the boat) came since yesterday (Tuesday) and said his boat is far and that there are other boats in the middle so loading is a bit challenging, in most cases when there are no spaces at the port this trader would load here unless when there is a space at the port,” he said.

“When they come it is only if their boats are far and they would request entry, because they don’t come in a way of theft, so we were helping only,” he added.

Police CID officer John Pingrin claimed that the incident happened because they were not aware.

“This thing was connected locally we were not aware, if we could be aware we would have done our procedures of first loading the diesel then followed by the goods, but what happen we were not around,” he said.

One of the representatives of the traders who owned some of the goods that were damaged by the fire and who identified himself as Deng Biel Garang stated that the owner of the boat is the direct person they are communicating with as he opens the case on the owner of the diesel.

“The incident happened with the boat we had loaded with mixed goods and going to Fangak, this thing happened because of the drum of the diesel, so the one responsible person is the company that brought the diesel in the boat, the owner of the boat has gone to open the case,” he said.

The carried items were mixed goods with some being named as sacks of sugar, biscuits, sacks of maize flour, and small sacks of sweets, clothes, and oil, among other things.

However, a source who declined to be named told Sudans Post that the diesel owner has been arrested by police authorities at the port and that investigations were ongoing.

“The owner of the fuel was arrested after the owner of the boat opened a case with the police and the investigation has started,” he said.

A security officer who also declined to be identified said separately that civilians were snatching the damaged goods and the authorities could not control the situation.

“The civilians yes are picking (the remaining items in the burning boat) but they cannot listen to us, the most important thing is that nobody is burnt or injured the boat when it busted the robe was cut and left to the river moving,” the source said.

“We couldn’t stop the civilian from picking goods in the boat because it has reached a distance far from the port already by the time,” he added.