China's Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration will open a first-of-its-kind laboratory devoted to investigating maritime accidents.
The new laboratory, currently under construction, will open by the end of 2013.
Investigators will use the laboratory to analyse the causes of maritime accidents that involve the loss of lives and property such as ship collisions, explosions, oil spills, and sinking, according Chen Xiaoguang, deputy director of the administration.
“In the past, we had to rely on personal judgments when dealing with a maritime accident. It would take us a long time to go to the site of an accident to question the involved parties or to look for evidence from a video of the event. Once the laboratory is built, we will be able to use paint or trace analysis and accident simulation technology, all of which is faster and more objective,” Chen was quoted as saying.
Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration is collaborating with Jiao Tong University and Shanghai Maritime University in sharing technology and training researchers for the new laboratory, which will run out of eight offices each with a different specialisation.