Jakarta, bkinews (03/09/2015) – Safety of life at sea is a key priority which always need to be considered by the shipping industry stakeholders especially the owner of the ship, government, the classification society, the owner of cargo ship, crew, captain and so on.

"When ship has been sailed, it was not be associated with classification society as a non-govermental organization  in the event of an accident and cause loss of property of ship, human and environmental damage" Corporate Communication BKI – Sjaifuddin Thahir said in Jakarta, Thursday (03/09/2015). 

How to see the cause of the ship accident and how to gather information about ship casualties, according to him, ship casualties are divided into four categories: very serious casualties, serious casualties, less serious casualties, and marine incidents. 

"There are three  of very serious casualties, consist of total loss of ships (sinking), loss of crew and passengers (life) and severe pollution of the marine environment, which can damage marine life," he said. 

Severe pollution is a case of pollution which, as evaluated by the coastal State affected or the flag State, produces a major deleterious effect upon the environment, or which would have produced such an effect without preventive Action. 

Furthermore, Sjaifuddin Thahir explained that sinking of the ship is usually influenced by some of natural factors. They are the weather, sea waves, and severe storms. "No ship can fight Mother Nature,” he said. 

He added that natural factors such as the weather, sea waves and storms are the major cause of sinking of the ship in the past. "High waves and bad weather are some of the natural conditions that could make the ship sunk, include the large ships could be sunk by monstrous waves" he added.

The second category is serious casualties. He said that it could be happened by the ship did not qualify for sailing and cause a fire, explosion, collision, grounding, contact, heavy weather damage, ice damage, hull cracking, or suspected hull defect, etc. Then immobilization of main engines, extensive accommodation damage, severe structural damage penetration of the hull under water, etc., rendering the ship unfit to proceed*, or pollution (regardless of quantity); and/or a breakdown necessitating towage or shore assistance, are also categorized as serious casualties. 

"So, every ship sinking, BKI as classification society is not related to the safety and feasibility of ship during in the voyage, this is Flag State domain" he said.