By NICO SCAVELLA
Tribune Staff Reporter
nscavella@tribunemedia.net
THE Royal Bahamas Defence Force yesterday dispelled an “erroneous” report that one of its newly acquired vessels crashed into a reef while taking officers to a funeral for a fellow marine in Andros over the weekend.
Yesterday, a local tabloid reported that HMBS Arthur Hanna, the first of nine ships designed to upgrade the RBDF fleet in a $232m investment by the government, reportedly “crashed into rocks” while transporting “dozens” of officers to a funeral for fellow marine Angelo Dorsett Jr, who was shot and killed at a nightclub two weeks ago.
As a result of the crash, the tabloid claimed that the boat reportedly suffered $500,000 worth of damage “to the vessel’s hull and propellers”.
The report claimed the officers on board the vessel had to be taken to their final destination by rescue boats and that HMBS Arthur Hanna had to be “towed” back to the Prince George Dock in New Providence.
In a statement yesterday, however, the RBDF denied the claims that the vessel had run aground on rocks over the weekend, but said the boat did make contact with an “object” in the water on its way to Andros.
The RBDF also refuted the claim that the vessel had to be “towed” back to New Providence.
“Contrary to erroneous reports by a local paper, a Royal Bahamas Defence Force vessel did not ‘crash into reefs’ while transporting personnel to North Andros over the weekend,” the statement said.
“The vessel in question did however come into contact with an object in the water on Saturday morning while transiting the channel leading to Morgan’s Bluff harbour.
“An initial assessment revealed that a replaceable blade on a propeller was slightly chipped.
“No persons were in danger of loss of life or injury at anytime during the incident.”
“The vessel returned to Nassau, as planned, under its own power and without any need for assistance after completing its mission,” the RBDF’s statement said.
“As a matter of routine, a further assessment of the vessel’s hull and propeller will be conducted followed by an inquiry to ascertain cause of the incident.”
The ship was carrying officers to Mr Dorsett’s hometown in Andros for his funeral.
Mr Dorsett became the country’s ninth murder victim for the year when a gunman opened fire on patrons at the G-Spot nightclub at Faith Avenue north last month.
A gunman shot out the front door of the nightclub and entered to search for another man, but then started firing indiscriminately into the crowded bar as patrons scrambled to escape.
Mr Dorsett died at the scene after he was shot in his back, according to Central Detective Unit Chief Superintendent Paul Rolle, who said police responded to the incident sometime around 1.30am.
Another man was shot in his arm and stomach and taken to hospital.
A third victim was listed as stable after being struck in the face.
Chief Supt Rolle confirmed that the gunman’s intended target escaped the scene unharmed.
Police later made several arrests in connection with the incident.
Comments
Economist 9 years, 2 months ago
This boat is a very expensive piece of equipment. It is also expensive to run. Please tell the public how much it cost us to make your trip to Andros and back? Also how much will it cost to fix the propeller.
Lastly, please give us the outcome of the investigation as to who was responsible for the damage to the prop and what is being done to make sure that this does not happen again.
This is all tax payers money. We are entitled to know what you are doing with our money.
asiseeit 9 years, 2 months ago
I would also like to know how much time these boats spend on patrol of our southern border. All of them where in port for The Christmas while the Dominican boats where plundering our fish and lobster stocks. The BILLIONS of dollars that has been stolen out of the Bahamian waters over the years directly hurts our economy, yet the defense force can not seem to find these poachers. Funny how our fishermen come across them on a regular. We have invested many millions in The defense force and now Bahamians expect a return on that investment. It is time for the Defense Force to show results. As Sir Lynden said, fish, cut bait, or get the hell out of the boat!
HarryWyckoff 9 years, 2 months ago
That's a pretty expensive taxi service the Bahamian people have paid for.
The_Oracle 9 years, 2 months ago
The Defense force does not need to patrol our southern waters, the Chinese floating fish factories are handling that for us, while they man the long lines....
duppyVAT 9 years, 2 months ago
What?????????? Long line fishing is illegal!!!!!!!! And we dont need those RBDF boats running taxi service between Nassau and Andros while the illegals, smugglers and poachers are busy on the borders. is this what we spent $230 Million for?????????? .. same shit, different day
asiseeit 9 years, 2 months ago
Long lining is illegal in The Bahamas, but that means nothing if our Defense Force does not patrol and ENFORCE the law. A couple years back and I bet to this day, you could see the long liners off of Abaco and Eluthera on a regular. Never heard of a long liner being caught and I doubt that our defense force even knows what they are. Laws without ENFORCEMENT mean nothing therefore Bahamian laws are WUTLESS! The Defense Force is all show and no results, like a paper tiger.
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