Sunday, September 17, 2006

Why were they considered lucky?

May be I should explain my contention why I think the passengers onboard Norwegian Down should consider themselves very fortunate to have encountered that freaque wave off the coast of Georgia, early on Saturday, April 16, 2005 and only sustained minor damages along with may be expectable anxieties and annoyances. There were at least 6 known cases of maritime disasters in the 20th century with no survivors and freaque waves were all suspected:

1909 SS Waratah (211)

1975 SS Edmund Fitzgerald (29)

1978 Super tanker München (26)

1980 MV Derbyshire (44)

1982 Offshore Platform Ocean Ranger (84)

1991 Longliner Andrea Gail (6)

The numbers inside the parenthesis indicate the total number of causalities lost. The numbers may not be as impressive as comparing to those Tsunami losses. But every single one of them represents a major irreplaceable loss forever to their family and love ones. More than the numbers signify will be the fact that it can really happen, regardless of ship sizes, time, or location. In all these cases when they happen, they just instantly disappeared and never to be heard ever again. We earnestly hope and pray that kind of thing will not ever happen to anyone again. At any rate we should continue pressing forward for more new research and new measurements, but most certainly no one should ever think that they can be just as lucky as the Norwegian Down next time when it happens.

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