What would you do?

[hobbit]

True Story- What would you do ?


An English family from Hayling Island were on a yachting holiday in the Med,husband, wife, one year old daughter and relative. Off the coast of Spain they spotted a small boat almost sunk, it had eight very frightened people on board waving frantically for help. The family had noticed a couple of other boats ignore the sinking boat but they decided they would save the eight people. It turned out they were Algerians trying to enter Spain illegally to escape the poverty of their homeland. All male, the eight were very grateful and as they had been fasting for Ramadan they were starving. They had been at sea for three days. Eventually handed over to Spanish authorities the eight are now fighting deportation. The family who saved them are being hailed as heroes.
OK so we have a family with an infant who picked up eight starving foreigners from a sinking boat. Clearly out-numbered and given the amount of piracy these days was this a wise thing to do?. Should they have sailed by like the other boats and not placed themselves at risk?. They could easily have been over-powered and the yacht taken back to Algeria. Anything could have happened. I would not have placed my family at risk regardless of anything else, Maritime law may state that in a situation like this the people should be rescued plus whatever humane reasons to save life. However, in these violent times why take a chance like this miles away from land when you could end up shark bait
What would you do?.

 

[sgtpepperband]

I agree that maritime law dictates that they should have provided assistance, but without more details we cannot comment.

Did they embark all of the people stranded or merely tow the stranded vessel? How close to land where they? What were the shipping/weather conditions? Did they notify authorities by mobile/VHF immediately?

That part of the Mediterranean is not known as a piracy hotspot, so I reckon the Skipper felt reasonably safe to do what he did. Was he reckless? We don't know; he risk assessed the situation and dealt with it accordingly. Hobson's choice I feel - had he left them it would be on his conscience forever.

 

[hobbit]

I agree that maritime law dictates that they should have provided assistance, but without more details we cannot comment.

Did they embark all of the people stranded or merely tow the stranded vessel? How close to land where they? What were the shipping/weather conditions? Did they notify authorities by mobile/VHF immediately?

That part of the Mediterranean is not known as a piracy hotspot, so I reckon the Skipper felt reasonably safe to do what he did. Was he reckless? We don't know; he risk assessed the situation and dealt with it accordingly. Hobson's choice I feel - had he left them it would be on his conscience forever.

They did embark all the people as the boat did sink. The report states they were miles off the coast,seas were getting choppier by the minute Authorities were contacted immediately and gave an ETA of two hours during which time the boat would have gone down. Instead of a guilty conscience I would have felt OK having put my family first. Still, to each his own,
:roll:

 

[Always_a_Civvy]

I would have sought to rescue them. I would take the risk. I could not live with knowing that eight lives had been lost which could have been saved. It is easy to assume the worst. I always try to think the best of people and act accordingly. But that's just me.

 

[Old_Hand]

Personally I would have handed them any life saving equipment I had on board, radioed for assistance and remained in the area until help arrived. All turned out well on this occasion but it could have turned out a lot worse.

 

[andym]

It would have been better if they had been prevented from sailing in the first place!