W.T.F. At first I thought this was photoshopped. But no. So, here are some facts about this accident, according to news headlines throughout the weekend:
1: "Significant Human Error Possibly a Factor"
- Uh, no shit. The Captain of the vessel said the rock wasn't on his chart. You can't see it in that picture, but the rocks are part of a freakin' island not even 100 feet away.
Ok, so in this picture you can see it. You have an 80 foot draft on that thing, and you thought being that close was ok? Are you on crack?!
2:"Women and Children First"
- What century are you in? the 19th? This doesn't happen anymore. You know why? Because international maritime law requires you to have enough life rafts so this is never an issue. As the get go, of any decent cruise, you are assigned a life boat. With x number of other people. There is no guessing which one because you are TOLD before the ship ever leaves port. Which brings me to fact number 3...
3: "We Never Got Safety Training"
-Apparently, instead of the important stuff, like telling people how to put on a life jacket and where their assigned life raft is, it was a "BUY STUFF NOW!!!!!" show. You know, like at the timeshares.
4: "No Mayday Was Made"
- This is what gets me. I am a trained radio operator by trade for the Coast Guard. I spend half of my waking hours listening to radio traffic for a distress call. It's what I do. You boat is listing (rolling over to one side) you have no power and you had a hard grounding but decided you didn't need actual help? With 4,000 souls at stake? What's more, BY LAW, you have to have a DSC alert system on that boat. No one even had to pick up a radio. They only had to push a button. That's all. No one even PUSHED A FUCKING BUTTON! Ok, sorry, but this makes me so angry. At least 5 people have died. They want to get the Captain on manslaughter. No, this is murder. Call it what it was. No one should have died. The water was clearly a survivable temperature (since the crew apparently abandoned ship and swam to shore) so even if you fell in. The only "understandable" death was the crew member who died in the collision. That is squarely on the Captain.
Growing up in Florida, Carnival Cruiselines (The company that owns this Italian one) had a less than stellar reputation. It will be a cold day in hell before I ever set foot on a Carnival boat, unless I am a Coastie inspecting the damned thing.
Ok, that's all I will say. I never wanted to make this a political blog, or anything other than me laughing at me busting my ass on the ice. But sometimes, things just have to be said.
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