Transcript reveals confusion over ferry evacuation

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By GILLIAN WONG and HYUNG-JIN KIM

JINDO, South Korea (AP) - The South Korean ferry that sank was crippled by confusion and indecision well after it began listing, a radio transcript released Sunday showed, suggesting the chaotic situation may have added to a death toll that could eventually exceed 300.

About 30 minutes after the Sewol began tilting, a crew member asked a marine traffic controller whether passengers would be rescued if they abandoned ship off South Korea's southern coast. The crew member posed the question three times in succession.

That followed several statements from the ship that people aboard could not move and another in which someone declared that it was "impossible to broadcast" instructions.

Many people followed the captain's initial order to stay below deck, where it is feared they remain trapped. Sixty-one bodies have been recovered, and about 240 people are still missing.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20140420/DADA51K02.html

[Ex Lurker]

1. Sometimes, the people who follow instructions live

and sometimes, the ones who ignore orders and follow their own instincts do. You don't know until after the fact which course of action was the right one.

[840high]

2. Tragedy. Condolences to the families. The

captain left the ship.

[Blue_Tires]

3. horrific

There's an old adage that says the handbook for safety rules and training is written in blood...The Koreans will definitely be adding another chapter...

[EX500rider]

4. Why the Captain didn't think it was time for a lifeboat drill I'll never know.

They only launched 2 lifeboats and no rafts that i saw.

[herding cats]

5. Most of those lost where children

I'm not trying to start an argument about age of majority. To my eyes they were children. As such they were still conditioned to follow the guidance of the adults in charge. They were trusting that those responsible for their well being would help them make the right decisions as to what to do in such an emergency.

I cannot, no matter how hard I try, fathom losing my child under the same circumstances these parents are being forced to deal with. I simply cannot imagine how they're holding it together. Their children did as they'd been taught and obeyed what they were being told to do by the adults in charge. For many, most, their reward was a horrific death where they knew they were going to die before their final end.

This father's words will forever haunt me, "After four or five days, the body starts to decay. When it's decayed, if you try to hold a hand, it might fall off," he said. "I miss my son. I'm really afraid I might not get to find his body."

[merrily]

6. I probably would have obeyed an order from the crew to remain in place.

What do I know about operating or even evacuating a ferry? If they told me to remain still, I would have assumed they knew better than I did. (Yes, I've seen the movie Titanic, but I have also assumed that people in the industry--and in governments around the word--learned something from the most famous vessel sinking in human history.)

Now, I don't know what I would assume in an analogous situation.

I just cannot imagine being a kid without my parents on a ferry and knowing the score well enough to text home to tell my parents I loved them one last time. Nor can I imagine the emotions of the parents.

No wonder the captain who did make it to safety in a lifeboat hid his face when he apologized to them. Captains making off a troubled vessels very early in the evacuation process (if any) seems to be a trend.

[quadrature]

7. this is about saving face

for example.
using the radio,
person on the ship wants somebody else
to suggest abandoning ship.

edit, add..

related issue.
in the airline pilot business.
if you declare an emergency, you get fired.
sadly, many pilots risk their life, rather than
declare an emergency when its needed

[Hassin Bin Sober]

8. That's absolute BS ( the part about airline pilots being fired for declaring an emergency )