Avoidable tragedies

Not a month seems to go by without a major travel disaster. The capsizing of the ferry in South Korea last week is a terrible tragedy comparable with the disappearance of the Malaysian jetliner as the toll runs into several hundred in both instances. The South Korean tragedy is particularly poignant because the lives of a majority of 323 young students aged 16 or 17 may have ended. While the airliner may have been flown out of its path deliberately or due to a disastrous event on board, what happened to the ferry appears to be a simple case of poor piloting.

The carelessness with which many tasks — that appear routine but are important because lives are at stake — are handled is shocking. For instance, the ferry appears to have been piloted by an inexperienced third mate who was unaccustomed to helming the gigantic 6,800-tonne beast with 150 containers and 180 cars on board in choppy seas. She may have either been pushing the craft beyond safe speeds because it was running late or taken too sharp a turn. Some form of showing off may also have been involved of the type that had led to an Italian cruise ship meeting a similar end in icy cold water two years ago.

The captains, paid very well, appear to have chickened out, both being one of the first to leave their vessel, contrary to the valorous tradition of being last out of a sinking ship. It is tragic that so many lives should be lost for the reckless ways of a few professionals. Will we ever learn?