Super yacht sinking - did the crew bravely survive or did they abandon their the passengers

[mids2019]

So....most of the crew survived this tragedy but the passengers died. Do you think it will emerge the crew should have e done more to alrt the passengers and indeed put their lives in danger to attempt a rescue? Maybe it was all just too fast?

I just think there seems silence from the crew at moment despite being survivors of a sinking vessel who have a story to tell. Are lawyers advising they stay quiet on this?

'@KnittedCardi Today 08:25
I think it is as simple as those who survived were on deck, those who didn't were in cabins. It went down really quickly.'

Exactly.

There likely was no realistic option to go back to the cabins and risk drowning with the sleeping passengers.

I think it is just normal procedure though as part of the investigation.

It happened quickly. People who were below deck and likely asleep would not have been able to react quickly enough.

It is good practice to be somewhere more sheltered such as a marina or harbour if challenging weather conditions are forecast. But big yachts like that can struggle to find a guest spot that is accessible and long enough.

Anyway, it would have been terrifying for the occupants and I am sure that what happened will become clearer in time. It’s a sad situation 😞

I assumed they were higher up in the yacht - probably still working to make sure the place was spotless for the morning. The chef would have finished when the kitchen was done but if folk were up drinking or watching TV or whatever there would have been a lot of staff up.

It reminded me of that cruise ship as well. In the end, it was the British entertainment team and performers who did what they could to help the passengers off the vessel. The crew had abandoned ship at the first opportunity.

This wasn’t a commercial passenger transport vehicle. The crew are not trained in emergency evacuation procedures. They are (usually very low paid) crew keeping the place clean and the food and drink coming.

I don’t expect a waiter to have responsibility for the personal safety of diners in a restaurant, why would I expect those serving on a luxury yacht to do so?

As the PP who crewed above eloquently put it, it’s like expecting a chamber maid to run into a burning hotel to rescue guests.

This was a very different situation to a ferry slowly sinking with hundreds of people on board. By the time the crew realised what was happening they were probably in the water. Yes you try and help people if you can. You don’t sacrifice your life going into a boat that’s 30 seconds from being underwater

Apart from anything else, the crew will almost certainly have very tight NDA clauses in their contracts (standard for super yacht crew) that would stop them from indulging the media’s interest. The silence of the crew means nothing at all.

What @Allthegoodnamesarechosen said. Crewing a bazillionaire superyacht is basically being servants, not being the captain of the Titanic.

And yes to NDAs.

Surely it's more akin to being in a plane and the crew overseeing health and safety.

Err perhaps they are traumatised and trying to process what just happened, I doubt anyone would be making public statements at this point!!
It's a small group so everyone would have known each other well so it must be awful for them all!

The woman who survived with her 1 year old was on the top deck, presumably because it was too hot to sleep downstairs (hence open hatches). That is probably what saved their lives.

Not if doing so meant risking their own lives, no. And that's what OP is talking about, as she's asked whether the crew should've put their own lives in danger to attempt a rescue.

If there has indeed been a fuck up then that's another thing altogether. But on the question of what can be expected from people who are choosing between their own safety and that of someone they don't have any relationship with, OP is being completely unrealistic.

Good point

Look up Sewol ferry disaster in South Korea which happened a decade ago. Horrific story- over 300 dead, 250 of which were school children. Captain and all the crew escaped and survived and were charged with murder following a national outcry. They were aware the ship was sinking and told the passengers to stay on the lower deck, then escaped with no further instruction. They refused help from neighbouring coast guards who could have got all passengers off board since it took 1.5 hours for the ferry to fully go down.

Social media videos from some of the students right before they died showed they were wondering whether the rebellious kids who didn’t listen to the captain’s orders to stay on the lower decks would survive while they- the compliant kids - would die. Sadly turned out they were right and the Korean culture of compliance and respect drilled into them was unhelpful in the situation where they continued to trust their elders and those in authority of the ship were acting in their best interest, even as the lower decks were filling with water.

Truly a horrific story but it does make me suspicious when most of the crew survive a boat disaster without the passengers .

This for goodness sake.

The captain, engineer etc are crew who would be trained and responsible for emergencies. The other crew are deckhands, cooks, cleaners etc. Their training would be minimal probably just knowing where emergency alarms and fire extinguishers are. That sort of thing.

Stupid question , but is there no air conditioning in the passenger cabins ?

Any sailor should know that, if a storm is forecast, you batten down the hatches and, if possible, head for a safe harbour.

The hatches and portholes were open hence it filled with water and sank.

Very tragic, especially that lovely young girl with her whole life ahead of her.

We used to own a yacht (nothing like the one that sank though) husband is a Yacht Master. He says on a vessel that size, with a mast that big, it would have a retractable keel, keel keeps it balanced with the mast.

Keel can be retracted for racing, to make it flow through the sea faster. Thinks the keel wasn't retracted, so when the mast snapped, it would flip and water entered through open hatches and portholes.

No fishing boats went out that night because of a predicted storm and the weather report is a massive part of yachting. It should have been anchored in a more sheltered place.

It was dragging anchor for 15 minutes, an alarm sounds when dragging anchor and all crew would be on deck.

I think you need to familiarise yourself with the costa concordia incident before you start commenting on it.

That.

Exactly.

I agree.

No! It’s more like your taxi driver getting out of a crashed car in the 60 seconds before it exploded.

This wasn’t the prolonged sinking of a cruise ship. It was a private yacht that sunk in an around minute and anyone who survived jumped off.