Man overboard! Again!

How do you fall overboard? The latest incident is just mind blowing!

Several reports started appearing a few days ago about an American passenger who was knocked off the biggest cruise ship in the world by a massive wave.

Frank Jade reported that he had gone for a walk on the open deck when a wave knocked him off his feet and swept him overboard!

Luckily for him the Disney Magic cruise ship was following the same navigational path and by some miracle he was seen and rescued by them. Mr Jade had no serious injuries but I have some questions for him.

How do you fall off the biggest cruise ship in the world that is 18 decks high?

Open decks? There are no open decks as they all have railings so am I led to believe that this rogue wave lifted Mr Jade off his feet and threw him over the railing.

I am not under estimating the trauma that this caused this gentleman but really how do you fall overboard?

On a worrying note why did Oasis of the Seas not notice he had gone overboard . The reason for this is that no cruise line at the moment has an automatic man overboard system. Jim Walker from Cruise Law News has been trying to bring this to the attention of the cruise lines for several years as it was passed in 2010 by Congress, under the  2010 Cruise Vessel Safety & Security Act, which requires the installation of automatic man overboard systems.

To date not one single cruise line has this in place although rumours are that Holland America have been trialling it.

Is it necessary? Well if you look at the figures of how many people fall overboard then perhaps it is or is it due to stupidity,  or even sadder are people taking their own lives at sea. I don’t know the answer but surely if a system can save lives it’s worth implementing.

What do you think?