This is a front page story in the Miami Herald today. According to this account, the cruise line is now saying the captain was never told of the sighting of the boat. The person the birders told (and showed the boat in their scopes) is now being called a “sales representative” for the cruise line. Where the breakdown in communication occurred between this person and the captain (if in fact the captain wasn’t told) remains to be seen.
There is no mention in this account of the cruise ship trying to avoid fishing nets. It’s said that the small boat was several miles away from the cruise ship, so that couldn’t have been a concern (since boats that size would not carry very long nets).
What this revision makes clear is that somebody and Carnival was spouting total and utter bullshit with the first version of the story. Either it was the Captain lying to his own management to save his own ass, or some marketing drone just made up shit out of thin air to explain why the ship didn’t stop and render aid.
Of course, every large company is chock full of CYA bullshitters, The best we can hope is that they get canned when they are found out.
“Would have had the opportunity to respond”? What the hell kind of weaseling is that? It’s both reasonable and expected in any distress situation on sea that you respond in any bloody way you can.
I actually believe the statement from the company that after a preliminary investigation it was found that the captain and the officer on duty had never been informed of the sighting. What captain or officer is going to risk losing his job and possibly more serious consequences because they neglected to respond to a ship in possible distress? Company ships have been diverted 30 times in the last decade in response to just such sightings. To borrow a phrase, what we have here is a failure to communicate. Apparently the passengers involved had told a ‘sales representative’ what they had seen and it was he who had promised to convey the information to the crew. If anyone is at fault it would be either this guy or, if he passed it on, the guy he told or, etc etc
I also think the fishermen themselves bear the greatest responsibility for their fates.