What a stupid avoidable accident this was. The captain navigating by sight instead of using radars. I just don't understand it, why wasnt someone else on the bridge looking at radars? Let alone why they were even going so close in the first place.

Then not to report the accident and keep saying it was just a blackout!

The actual move to turn the ship around and beach it was a good decision but if the captain had called abandon ship straight away and not protected his ego and the companies insurance liabilities??? then theres a good chance no one would have died. They sent passengers back to their cabins for christs sake!

I've been ill most of this week and off so been reading a lot about this disaster. It seems these cruise liners are known for 'touristic routes' close to the shore of islands and landmarks which actually put passengers at huge risk.

Modern cruise liners have much shallower draughts than older ships (like the classic "Cunarders") to enable them to be able to get into more ports (and by extension, closer to shore). However, I don't see why there isn't some kind of "colision-avoidance" system in place to warn of approaching/nearby rocks. I can't imagine it's (a) technically difficult or (b) would add much to the overall cost?

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I'm no expert but I'm pretty sure they do. The radars will pick this up and maybe they did? This ship would have had all the modern equipment

The captain said he was controlling the steering manually at the time of the accident because he knew the depths very well having done the route 3 or 4 times.

This is a video narrated to tell the story of what happened; I watched it yesterday: http://gcaptain.com/gcaptains-john-konr ... deo/?37941

It's worth a watch

All modern radars have "range markers" which sounds an alarm if anything comes within a range set by the operator, be it 0.25 mile, 1 mile 5 miles etc. These can also be interfaced with GPS & autopilots so the ship steers itself around the obstacle whilst maintaining the required distance away from it. This isn't that hi-tec as it sounds these days, most small trawlers have this sort of equipment.

I was once the CO (Captain) of an HM Ship and thinking back the kit we had was fairly basic with no real automation. On long transits the bridge had 3 max 4 on watch and when land was miles and miles away we didn't have the Ops room radar manned. But once we got closer to land and/or shipping lanes then the Ops room radar was manned as an extra safety measure.

Cruise liners and most other merchant shipping (ocean going) have gear that is so 'techy' and accurate that you can leave, for example, Southampton, punch in the co-ords of Miama and sit back. The Captain in this disaster has made a major major error and even if he knew the waters that well you still have a safety check behind you.
He gambled - he lost - and some folk lost their lives - it is manslaughter!!!

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