Originally Posted by
GrayHorizonsHeli
Theres one good thing about the need to evacuate such a large ship...there generally is alot of time available. They don't sink like a brick.
Other than taking on water, my biggest fear would be a fire. Panic sets in faster with a fire.
Do the life boats have enough capacity these days for all the passengers? Or do the crew of the ship cull out the weak and unstable, so the strong can survive??
In this case, were they actively using/loading the lifeboats at the time the helicopters were plucking people from the deck?
The Estonia sank in minutes - OK she was a big ferry but was huge and almost like a liner with most pax asleep in their cabins - massive storm and took on water - went over in minutes - almost 900 lost - no life boats launched nor would they have survived the sea conditions -
Same as this one - unable to launch the boats due the sea state, 10m waves and high winds
The crew tried in vain to make ready the boats but had to abandon that - had the ship run aground then the only way off would have been Heli's for all - as long as she stayed upright and not turned over...
This was a close call indeed -
Re number of boats per pax on board new ships - Viking sky had 6 x 150 seat life boats - certainly not quite enough for all the crew and pax - But loads of life rafts are fitted
there are not quite enough spots in life boats but with all the life rafts there is more than enough. But in those conditions this weekend they would have been useless