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City battles shipwrecks
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Winton Dong
A SMALL ship carrying a load of sand sank yesterday morning near Xiaochan Island in the city's western area. Among the seven crew members, only one has been rescued. The rest are still missing.
This latest of a string of serious accidents at sea to hit Shenzhen this year hovers over the maritime forum which is now being held in the city, attended by more than 120 experts from home and abroad.
Officials from the maritime bureau said 192 maritime accidents took place within the city's waters during the past five years, leaving more than 10 people dead and causing direct losses of 115 million yuan (US$13.8m).
On April 18 five people were killed in a ship collision off the city's east end.
In the aftermath of the recent shipwrecks, the city's port authorities introduced advanced vessel transportation supervision and radar detection systems imported from Germany.
With the help of these advanced facilities, the city can now supervise all of the 450 square kilometres of sea off the city's eastern and western districts.
Experts attending the forum urged more action to be taken to reduce sea accidents which have been rising due to a rapid increase in sea traffic and port handling capacity in recent years.
Sea pollution is also the subject of much debate at the forum. It is estimated that more than 110,000 ships call at the city's docks every year and discharge large amounts of sewage and waste. The city's western sea area was also seriously polluted by oil leakage last year.
As for curbing sea pollution, the city's law-making body will soon revise local rules and regulations, thus ensuring rigid control over waste discharge into the sea.
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