Phil: I accept your comments. I am sorry too. Today I received a message, that a child, a young girl living some 100km from my home was killed by smoke. Her mother is still missing ... No money can pay for this. If this would be in the middle of the Atlantic ocean or in a war, o.k. you have to accept it. But some 12 miles off Corfu?

Tom400: I am sorry. I have become accustomed to volatile social media platforms where full and frank exchanges of views are the norm. I realise that shipspotting is meant to be a friendly community and I sincerely apologise for suggesting that you read the Daily Mail.

If money wasn't a driving force, there wouldn't be ships, and we wouldn't have any of these problems everyone is debating, period. People just wouldn't be able to travel as easily.
Sure, past lifeboat practices may have been slightly safer, but past fire prevention and control practices were not. I'm sure a pre-SOLAS ship would have burned out of control much easier, and there would be another, much more horrific reason for tragedy.
It's sad, but disasters are always going to happen. To be frank, at least most of the passengers are safe, that's certainly a much better outcome than the AirAsia flight.

Phil English: Your comment is insulting and beyond reason.
I do not read any tabloids. I am well aware of the fact, that shipping in general has become much more safe. One important reason amoung others is the use of GPS / ECTIS. So far so good. But to evacuate a large passenger vessel without an adequate number of life boats is impossible in a realistic scenario. Everybody knows this. After a new "Titanic" disaster people will change their minde quickly. You may read your Daily Mirror, Daily Mail or whatever ...........

Tom400,
Ships equipped with freefall lifeboats also have a small rescue boat onboard. The primary function of this boat is retrieval of a crewmember who has gone overboard, normally they have a crew of 3 and can take onboard a maximum of 3 survivors.
Such rescue boats are of no real use in an emergency such as this where large numbers of individuals have to be retrieved from the sea or another vessel.
Davit launched ships lifeboats - particularly the older style of open boats - are much more useful in such cases simply due to their much larger size and capacity. The rescue of Vietnamese boat people by the WELLPARK some years ago is a prime example.
All ships built after 1986 which have davit launched lifeboats have to be fitted with the totally enclosed variety, and of course on cargo ships and tankers these days freefall boats are much more common (together with the aforementioned small rescue boat) and in the case of newbuild bulk carriers freefall boats are mandatory.

Tom400: Marine casualties as a percentage of the World Fleet have been steadily decreasing for the past 20 years. Fact. However, don't let that stop you being all Daily Mail and sensationalising an issue.

Phil English: Modern ships like all container vessels have so-called "free fall life boats". Such are useless for the salvage of people from other ships in distress.

I run a business, successfully. But there are limits to everything. You have to care for your customers. And then there are all these smart lawyers eager to sue the captain who wants to help, has to make immediate decisions. Today, for the captain of a ship which can help, it is better to wait an see....
SOLAS? Made for safety or for politicians and lobbyists?

Questions have to be asked about design. MES escape chutes have killed people before, notably a woman in Dover during an exercise a couple of years ago and it would appear killed a man here.
The crew were able to get the lifeboats away without issue in the prevailing weather conditions, the problem is there simply wasn't enough of them to evacuate a sizeable number of the passengers without airborne assistance.
The only other option was to deploy the MES and use liferafts, but that's not a realistic or safe option unless those onboard the rafts can be picked up immediately. Anyone who's spent any time in a raft during a drill or for real will know just how "wet" they are, therefore passengers spending any time in them will develop conditions such as hypothermia as well as a plethora of other ailments related to continuous immersion.
Improved lifeboat provisions would have made all the difference here, but of course purchasing and maintaining lifeboats is far more expensive than utilising rafts, as well as having a knock on effect on revenue generation due to boats and davits impacting on deadweight as well as superstructure design and capacity.
When it comes to safety at sea quite simply it's money that talks, it has always been thus.

Sadly 7 people confirmed dead. All other passengers and crew safely rescued. The rescue was hampered by bad weather. It's incredibly irresponsible to claim that the modern design of this ship contributed in any way to the tragic deaths. Are you a naval architect? One wonders what would have happened had this ship been of pre-SOLAS design. How many people would have survived?

As for money, try running a business without it.

Foolish statement!

Incredible. We live in 2014 not in the dark ages. There is a ship burning, close to the shores of Albania, Italy and Corfu and there is nobody who can help them. 2 lifeboats only. Modern ships have no life boats any more. They can not help either. It is irresponsible to let such ships go to sea. What would happen to a cruise liner with 5.000 people on board, far away from any coastal area, far away from any civilization? Just let the people suffer and die by the thousands ...... Ships used to have life boats for every single passenger. But today only one thing is important: the fast buck, money talks.

Unfortunately an ill fated ship.Two days after this photo was captured,the ship caught fire about 38 miles NW of Othoni isls with about 440 passengers and crew.
Huge resque operation is in progress right now.