AUKI Police over the weekend detained two marine shipping vessels for more than three hours for overloading.
The two vessels, MV Daystar and MV Maetalau were detained for having been overloaded on Saturday morning, after both Police and the vessels declared that it was unsafe to travel to Honiara, given that the load of both passengers and cargos had superseded both vessels’ capacity.
Auki Police confirmed to this paper that, both vessels which should have departed Auki for Honiara on 9am Saturday morning were detained until late in the afternoon before being released after some of the passengers and cargos had to be offloaded.
“Both vessels were detained after the passengers had failed to adhere to the vessel’s marine safety requirements, after both were over loaded.
“The vessels did not depart until late in the afternoon after the captains had been satisfied with its loading capacity, after most of the passengers and cargos were offloaded,” a spokesperson from Auki Police told this paper.
Meanwhile Auki has faced difficulty in sea transportation especially to Honiara after both marine vessels 360 Discovery and Pelican, who travel regularly to Auki from Honiara throughout the week, did not do so last week.
By JEREMY INIFIRI
In Auki
