South Korea's Devastating Ferry Disaster.

Friend of mine wears a pair of leather shoes and his Rolex in Bed

South Korea's devastating ferry disaster has elicited messages of sympathy, condolence and support from around the world. The 6,825-tonne Sewol capsized and sank on 16 April morning with 476 people on board. Up to this moment, death tolls reached 61.

I had mentioned on 16 Apr Wed on a Post : Time has change, but my watch hasn’t…I  had written :

I know one guy who wears his shoes and his only Rolex to sleep, do you know why?.... the answer could possibly makes you laugh!

He is a friend of mine, his name is Tsang Yip, being the No. 1 Chef on board a general cargo ship, I went to stay on his ship anchored in Shimonoseki in 1982.

He has all the alertness of sea bound safety!

He wears a leather shoes and his Rolex Date Just, he puts his passport in pocket when he goes to bed!

He told me there are no times for you to get out of the ship when the ship sinks! EVERY MINUTE COUNTS!

Same cases for those people who wear plastic slippers onboard aircraft, these people have lesser chance to live after an accident as they cannot walk through the fuselage on fire!

Well, this is what really keeps me remembering No. 1 Chef Tsang’s  saying…

I think next time when you travel on sea cruise, take certain precaution.

1. Try a ship with national flag like Britain, America, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Germany, France, Canada, China, …

Try not to go for those registered Flag like Panama, Monrovia, African country except South Africa as most of their safety regulation, maintenance record, list of life saving facilities, equipment test, safety drill record is not as strict or up to standard as those Ship flying national flag listed above.

 These countries provide a CONVIENT channel for the ship owner to save cost!!

2. Familiarize where emergency exit, find where the Hand torch light is.

3. When you hear noise, shock, BLACK OUT, ship is tilted suddenly, wake up and be alert.

4. Go to the bridge if you can as this is the command deck.

5. Make your own judgment  on the Captain’s announcement sometimes may not be telling you the right action as they always want to buy time to fix after the disaster or not to create chaos. That may cause delay to escape.

6. Join the Life and Fire Drill as you are required by Captain.

7. Run out to bridge or deck level, provided the weather is tolerable

8. Hold a torch light and wear a Life jacket

9. Standby at the life boat

10. Get an Axe. There should be one axe minimum at the fire hose near the hatch area on every floor. There is no way to break the glass of the window as they are made to withstand wind and water!

Have a pleasant sea tour!

HK Snob