by Barista Uno | Jun 15, 2012 | Marine Accidents and Safety, Nature and the Environment
We’re for the fair treatment of seafarers who figure in marine accidents, for due process, for legal assistance to the accused and for justice tempered with mercy. Those who are not, we dare say, are stone-hearted. But we don’t understand the calls for leniency towards the Filipino master of the MV Rena, which ran aground in October 2011 and caused New Zealand’s worst ever maritime environmental disaster, and the Italian master of the Costa Concordia, which partially sank after hitting a rock off the Italian coast in January 2012, killing at least 32 persons and injuring scores of others. (more…)
by Barista Uno | Feb 10, 2012 | Marine Accidents and Safety, Media, Communications and Language
Sometimes we wonder how Filipino seafarers and Filipinos in general are regarded by the world at large. Twelve days after the 13th January Costa Concordia incident, The Nautical Institute (NI) issued a press statement in which it lamented how “blatant speculation into the actions of Captain Schettino and others before” was being “presented as fact”. We are one with the NI in condemning trial by publicity. On the other hand, we don’t recall the venerable Institute issuing a similar statement in the aftermath of the Rena accident on 5th October 2011 where a Filipino master took centre stage. (more…)
