Ex-ODPM boss wants maritime safety strategy after latest boating accident

A for­mer Of­fice of Dis­as­ter Pre­pared­ness Man­age­ment (ODPM) head has called for tougher boat­ing reg­u­la­tions and im­proved na­tion­al emer­gency re­sponse fol­low­ing Sun­day’s col­li­sion be­tween two ves­sels off Trinidad’s north-west­ern penin­su­la, which left sev­er­al peo­ple miss­ing and oth­ers in­jured.

In a state­ment yes­ter­day, for­mer ODPM CEO Dr Stephen Ram­roop said the in­ci­dent high­light­ed the ur­gent need for stronger mar­itime safe­ty reg­u­la­tions, im­proved en­force­ment and bet­ter co­or­di­na­tion among emer­gency re­sponse agen­cies.

Full coverageTwo Boats Collide Off Chaguaramas, Leaving Five People Missing7 reports

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He ex­pressed sym­pa­thy to the fam­i­lies of those miss­ing and com­mend­ed the T&T Coast Guard (TTCG) and oth­er emer­gency per­son­nel in­volved in the on­go­ing search-and-res­cue op­er­a­tion for sev­er­al peo­ple who re­main un­ac­count­ed for.