Tobago was thrown into panic mode yesterday after word had spread that a Liberian vessel had docked at the Scarborough port and the occupants were sightseeing in the capital. However, it proved to be a false alarm due to a misunderstanding in a radio communication between the port and T&T Coast Guard officials.
The T&T Guardian understands that the mix-up occurred when a formal request was made by the vessel Alley Cat, which had a three-man crew, to come ashore. An employee attached to the Port Authority in Scarborough, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the request was transmitted via wireless radio to the Coast Guard around 9 am. It is alleged that the Coast Guard officers misheard the origin of the ship as Liberia when it was in fact Bulgaria.
Around 11 am the crew was allowed to dock at the Coast Guard base but were then not allowed to disembark the vessel. Instead, they were told officials from the Tobago Regional Health Authority and the Tobago House of Assembly had to clear them to ensure they showed no signs of Ebola. The source said no THA official eventually made that trip as the issue was sorted out by the Coast Guard and the crew was allowed to disembarks around 3 pm.
The port employee said the experience caused some level of hysteria on the port as they have not yet been trained to deal with the virus "I cannot understand how they expect us to deal with Ebola and we are not trained to do so. “Before everything was sorted out they wanted us to go on board but we refused because we have no gears or anything to protect ourselves at all so we are all panicking," the source said. The port worker said there was also no set protocol when it came to yachties, since some of them would also dock and disembark their vessels without making a request to do so. "I am calling on the authorities to take this Ebola thing seriously. This was just a scare and it is clear we are in no way, form or fashion prepared to deal with this deadly virus and we need to get our acts together because the first cruise ship is expected to call on November 2," the worker added.
The situation developed even as the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) met to make its own plans to deal with the virus. A release said the two-hour meeting, which was chaired by THA Chief Secretary Orville London at the Calder Hall Administrative Complex, was attended by senior representatives of the Customs and Excise Division, Immigration, police, Port Authority, Airports Authority, Health Division and the Tobago Emergency Management Authority. At the meeting London urged Tobagonians not to panic and said public education about the disease and its precautions was essential.