I think you're seriously underestimating #1.) How far the ship actually is from viable shoreline, and #2.) the average athletic ability of your average cruise ship passenger. That's a tough swim even for the most avid of swimmers. Sure, in a life or death situation, you have to try... but most of the people were going to be in a life boat anyways.
Maybe I am. Definitely #2 as I'd personally rather make the swim than the life boat. I think after seeing this picture it makes me think that the viable shoreline isn't far at all.
There are some reasons I can see. 1. Not everyone is up on the deck. People in their cabins, especially on the bottom levels would have a hard time getting to any location that would allow them access to just jumping off. 2. I'm not sure how fast the ship was sinking, but I can imagine that there is a lot of violent rocking and movement. There was probably a lot of suctions and vortexes getting created as water rushed into empty spaces on the ship. Not quite easy to try to swim with the water sucking you back, etc.
Makes me wonder how many people drowned in their cabins? Did they find zero bodies in the underwater sections?
That's what I'm thinking..........as calm as that water appears, they should be able to fix the damaged section (which is on the exposed side), and start pumping out the water as they pull it towards deeper water. They'd need to get a move on it though. Of course, a LOT of stuff will be destroyed by the sea water.
Damn, Mrs Esteban and I just went on a Carnival cruise over the New Year, we had a discussion at our dinner table over this, I caught a lot of flack from everyone , I said another major accident like the Titanic could happen again because of human errors. Everybody at that table said there was no way because of all the modern technologies. This is one time that I hate to be right!
Apparently a lot of people swam, possibly up to 600-800. They said that the listing made the angle to significant to lower life boats and many found it easier to jump and swim. It was approximately 200-300 meters to land. Video: http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_t1#/video/world/2012/01/15/mcedwards-ship-update.cnn
Wow! Incredible images. Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler 5 dead, at least 15 still missing
The ship was way farther out when it started to sink. It was at night, and you couldn't see how far the shore was (especially the closest shore which doesn't have any lights or houses or any sign of life). The panic, etc. Swimming with clothes on.. I read that a 65-year old man jumped to swim and that he died because of the temperature of the water (pretty cold at night in January). A couple of American's jumped and swim to the shore, one of them said that most people who jumped to swim started panicking and would hold on to each other - exhausting themselves and drowning others..
Saw this morning that the captain may have been drinking... What a tragedy...it could have been avoided.
