SHIPWRECK OF A YACHT IN PHUKET...

A few days ago a boat sank in Phuket making about 50 victims between the dead and the missing being roughly half of the passengers who were 105 on board in total.


The news was reported in the media but soon enough, wedged between the rescue of the 12 children and their attendant in a flooded cave in northern Thailand and the final stages of the World Cup of football (without wanting any minimizing the rescue of 12 children through a formidable collective and international effort).

Certainly it is not the first shipwreck and unfortunately probably not the last but beyond the human drama it is necessary to ask a few questions and make some observations.

If in Europe and especially in France we complain about having too much security and having too many laws regulating things that could be otherwise than by verbalizing, it is different here where with regard to security we remain relatively lax or vague in reading texts or recommendations that can sometimes be subject to different interpretations.

It is possible, as far as the boats are concerned, to ask whether instead of having a warning that it is dangerous to go out to sea because of a storm notice, it would not be better to have a ban decreed by the authorities. Certainly yes, probably, to prevent reckless captains from going to sea at all costs to not miss a day's turnover (or rather than the captains, the companies that employ them).

The warning is not a ban but when we see that the measure of danger is not taken into account or wrong, in particular by a lack of training or by the race for profits, the authorities must overcome the breach and take the responsibility to prohibit.

I already hear critics say that this would again be a step towards repressive measures. Yes, perhaps, but better a little less freedom on a subject like this than the freedom to go to death by glaring failures of the most basic security measures.

They will tell me that some "small shipwrecks" here and there are nothing compared to the more than 30 million of tourists. As a percentage of course this is ridiculous and compared to the number of deaths on the roads as well but how to hide behind these figures when it would be so simple to avoid accidents at sea, at least those due to bad weather in any case.

The human drama comes after economic considerations, as everywhere or almost elsewhere and it is not tomorrow that things will change.

We finally went to tell the tourists to be careful and not to get on a boat when it's bad weather, look if the captain is not drunk (which is not uncommon) and check that the boat is in an acceptable condition. Fortunately we do not have to do the same thing when we take a plane... and as for the car as we can not control the others it is better to be well insured and pass to the temple before taking the start hoping that the prayers and devotions will be enough to keep the evil eye away... a sad lottery but a real reality.

This word is only the translation of my feelings and if I can say one last thing is to encourage tourists to be cautious and make their own judgement on the appreciation of danger rather than trust blindly thinking that the boats are managed by professionals. You start to be professional when you are very well trained but that is not the case.

The authorities said that the security measures would be strengthened after this tragedy but the very next day, when the storm was strong, other boats were leaving without being worried, fortunately there was not a second shipwreck but it was just for some boats... evidence is that the accident itself has neither changed nor resulted in anything but a small awareness and emergency measures.

To rely on the judgement of the almighty is not sufficient and it is advisable to help it by a minimum of responsible behavior.

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