Posted on 02/01/2012 10:34:32 PM PST by prisoner6
UPDATE 4.15pm: PRIME Minister Julia Gillard says there is likely to be a very high death toll from a ferry sinking in Papua New Guinea.
Rescue crews have rescued 28 people from the water after a ferry sank with as many as 350 on board along the east coast.
A distress signal was sent from the MV Rabaul Queen at about 8.30am (AEDT) when travelling between Lae and the West New Britain town of Kimbe today, PNG's National Maritime Safety Authority said.
"There has been a boat go down in PNG with, as we understand it, 350 people on board," Ms Gillard said.
"This is obviously a major tragedy.
"
(Excerpt) Read more at heraldsun.com.au ...
Prayers indeed........
According to this report, 219 people have been rescued so far. There are eight merchant vessels on scene looking for people in the water.
The good news is the water is relatively warm there ...the bad news in ...saltwater crocodiles.
Post #4: “in” - is
One thing we can say for sure, Francesco Schettino was not involved.
Whose driving these things, Charon?
Yeah, first thing I thought of. During the fighting for Peleliu during the Pacific War, a Japanese battalion dug in on a small, low-lying island was destroyed in about 10 hours by swarms of crocs. American troops nearby heard screams and gunfire and grenades going off all night and wondered who the Japanese were fighting. When they moved in on the Japanese position in the morning, there were only about four survivors. The crocs had killed something like 500 Japanese troops.
The best news is probably the other ships getting to the scene so quickly.
From Wikipedia:
“That night [of the 19 February 1945] was the most horrible that any member of the M.L. [motor launch] crews ever experienced. The scattered rifle shots in the pitch black swamp punctured by the screams of wounded men crushed in the jaws of huge reptiles, and the blurred worrying sound of spinning crocodiles made a cacophony of hell that has rarely been duplicated on earth. At dawn the vultures arrived to clean up what the crocodiles had left...Of about 1,000 Japanese soldiers that entered the swamps of Ramree, only about 20 were found alive.”
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ramree_Island
As a young Marine “shavetail” Lieutenant, my father fought in the Solomon's in WWII and I remember he told me their Bn lost a Marine to crocs. As I recall, he said they had all been warned about the dangers; but, this Marine had disregarded the advice and was taken while swimming or bathing in a local river.
He had some interesting tales about headhunters in the Solomons also. Apparently they were on our side (more or less); but, had a great affinity for Japanese heads.
Looks like this vessel sank well offshore; so, probably sharks would be more of a problem than crocs ...not to say one might not show up as individuals have been recorded several hundred miles offshore on rare occasions.
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