Ship disasters have been in news for years. The biggest and the most shocking being the Titanic that went into the sea in April 1912. It was its maiden voyage and it was considered to be a ship that could not sink. Well perhaps it’s a way of nature to say that nothing can stand the force of nature. It is so strong that it can destroy the mightiest of ships and if it wants then it can safeguard even small boats used by fishermen. Well it is over a century that Titanic met with the fatal accident.

Technology has made immense progress today the ships that we have today perhaps were not even imaginable ten years back. However, the scene still remains the same. Even today many ships meet with horrible disasters in spite of being loaded with all facilities that technology can offer. We will now in this article discuss about the latest ship disasters that shook the modern navy and the technology that is used in making these ships.

Well ship disasters can be of many types. Sometimes it is so huge that the whole ship sinks into the bottom of the sea. Sometime it is so weird like the whole ship just vanishing away in seconds. These disasters mostly happen in Bermuda Triangle. In some cases lives are lost due to pirates attacking the ships. They also at times take hostages and claim ransom. Now a day’s people spend huge sum of money on cruise vacations. Sometimes disasters strike on holidays like large number of passengers fall sick for no known reason. Sometime the engine catches fire and people are forced to survive on bare minimum facilities. These cruise ships are used for heavy parties where apart from drinks sometimes even drugs are used overdose of these lead to accidents like people slipping from the deck. Women getting raped, valuables stolen, the list is just too long. Well perhaps the sea has its own way of influencing people. These are some general examples of disasters in ships. We will discuss some of them now in details.

In 2005, Somalian pirates hijacked a ship named seaborne spirits. The ship had 302 passengers. However, the ship crew were able to save the ship and its passengers. In 2005 itself there were twenty three cases of hijack reported in the Somalian region. After that IMO made some strict rules to ensure that pirate attacks are reduced. In 2005 again a seventy feet wave hit the Norwegian dawn cruise the sixty two floors of the ship was flooded. People suffered injuries but the situation was brought under control.

In Royal Caribbean cruise a man named Daniel took into too many drinks and fell into the sea in 2006. Many women travelling alone in cruises often complain of drugs being passed to them as a result they either faint or don’t remember what happened when they are awake. We hereby requests women travelling alone on cruise to be extra careful. In 2007 M.S. black died in Olsen cruise as he was wrongly detected and treated with wrong medicines. The cruise later paid his family a compensation of hundred thousand pounds. In 2010 in Caribbean cruise about three hundred and fifty people fell sick. Some of the crew members were also affected. They started vomiting and were detected with acute diarrhea. No one actually got to know what exactly happened.

In 2006, star princes was heading to Mont ego Bay in Jamaica. It is now believed that it was a cigarette that started the fire in this ship. The balconies have rubber fabric however the crude oil on this made them flammable and cause that fire that did spread very fast. The ship was repaired later. IMO post this accident made more strict rules that need to be followed for carpeting the balconies of the ship. In 2012 another cruise ship named Costa Concordia was found partially sunk just few feet off the coast. There were about eleven people dead twenty three were missing. The most horrible part of this disaster was that the captain left the ship. In 2006 in one of the most horrible ship accidents a ferry travelling between Dubai and Saudi Arabia sank killing about seven hundred people on board. In the year 2008 a Philippine cargo ship was hit by a typhoon it had about eight hundred members on board but only fifty survived the accident.

Almost every year a lot of cargo and passenger ships meet with fatal accidents and thousands of lives are lost. Sometimes it is technical issues and sometimes it is the fierce weather that is to be blamed. The maximum deaths in sea so far have been cause by nature some way or the other. The second most common cause is fire. Sometimes these accidents also happen due to basic human negligence like in 2011 a cruise vessel in Russia drowned and killed hundred passengers as it was overloaded.

People should keep in mind some basic safety rules when on sea to avoid these disasters. Please try not to get carried away and get involved in over intoxication. Women are requested to be careful and not accept drinks from strangers especially when they are alone. If you are smoking then ensure that the cigarette is put off completely. These seem to be small steps can avoid huge accidents. IMO has made many regulations that need to be followed by the ships. They also check the safety of these vessels from time to time. Thus has helped a lot to reduce these disasters. Even the shipping companies should understand their responsibility. Train the crew members well so that they can handle any emergency and know how to manage a big group of passengers. We cannot control the wrath of nature but these points mentioned above are definitely things that we can do to ensure better safety in the ships.

Unbelievable that such mighty man made ships with all the modern machines and technology in place cannot stand the fierceness of the oceans and are lost forever. More than the economic loss what bothers more is the loss of life. It’s indeed true that Mother Nature is the most powerful of all. No matter how much we progress in technology there is something that we still cannot control and predict. In spite of these disasters sea remains to be one of the most used means of transporting goods. Even year on year people opting for cruise holidays are also increasing. We salute the merchant navy officers who risk their lives and serve their country by spending a major part of their life on high seas.