Going overboard

[robotech_master]

So apparently a Florida woman is missing from a cruise ship. Presumably she fell overboard somewhere along the way, but air and sea searches have been called off.

You know, it seems to me like all cruise ships should be outfitted with a network of closed-circuit TV cameras attached to tape recorders with a time and GPS tracking system fed in also. Cameras covering the decks, but also covering every foot of water around the ship, running continuously. Someone can be on duty monitoring the cameras continuously for signs of people falling overboard, but also, if there's any question whether someone fell overboard and when, all they have to do is review the tapes and look for it. Then cross-reference the GPS track and time with known ocean currents to get some idea of where they should start looking.

Of course, for all I know they might have something like this already…you would think that cruise ships would want to take every precaution to prevent losing their customers permanently; there's not always going to be a fishing trawler full of tough self-reliant fishermen nearby to pull overboard passengers out of the water and have them work on the boat to earn their keep. But the article acts like they don't even know for sure the woman did fall overboard. It's hard to say what else could have happened to her, though.

Comments

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

I seem to recall a few cases where a "swept overboard passenger" was at least suspected of having faked their own death to get out of financial difficulties. It's one of those deaths where it's easy to get people to believe the body was simply lost, so any investigation dead-ends.