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Send responses to this document to Rotuman Forum for posting. Please include your full name and current home city. The opinion piece below appeared in the Fiji Times on 22 August 2006 in the "Voice of the People" section. Disaster awaits I wish to express my gravest concern over a safety issue that has been going on for so long unchecked. I refer of course to the practice of carrying oil on a passenger vessel to the island of Rotuma. Safety has been compromised because of financial considerations. I was present at the wharf in Rotuma when the vessel Cagi Mai Ba docked on her last trip and started discharging her cargo. A job incidentally carried out by the Rotumans and not the crew. Drums of oil have rolled off the vessel on a concrete ramp than onto the wharf. One drum had a leak from the hole at the bottom about the size of a five cent coin piece and they just turned the drum over and left it. People were going off and on the vessel without any roped off area or signage stating "No Smoking". The operations looked chaotic. No oil tanker is ever allowed to carry passengers and why allow oil to be carried on passenger carrying vessels. I want this unsafe practice stopped forthwith. I ask the Government, Marine Department, Occupational Health and Safety including the Rotuma Island Council to ensure that this does not happen. They are all remiss in their duties and responsibilities. Possible solutions: One is to carry all oil products to Rotuma on barges as is the practice to the Lau and Yasawa Groups. Second alternative is for the Rotuma Island Council to renegotiate with Mobil Oil to reopen its facilities already in existence in Rotuma. Rotuma has been without oil for some time but the problem was of their own making. Mobil built storage tanks, a depot and bunkering facilities but government departments and Council were ordering their oil direct from Shell in Fiji. This led to the closure of Mobil. Now with Shell discontinuing operations in the Pacific region, it is imperative that Rotuma has a reliable source that everyone on the island buys oil from at wholesale price. Rotuma High School was closed by the Health Inspector for two weeks because of the leakage in the roof. The potential damage in the mixture of carrying oil and people on the same vessel poses a much greater risk. I would prefer to err on the side of caution. I would prefer to be proved wrong with all the safety measures in place than to be proved right when nothing has been done to prevent such a thing ever happening. Rotumans have a saying "Fa' Mahmahan" (warm backing) from our ancestors. The inference being that no harm would come our way. They may get more than warmth they may be scorched to death. Let us act now. Gagaj Muaror Voi Oinafa Rotuma Posted 23 August 2006 --o0o-- Send responses to this document to Rotuman Forum for posting. Please include your full name and current home city.