Hundreds missing as S Korea ferry sinks

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Agreed...the lowest rank to have a watchkeeping certificate is a third officer so he or she are considered to be qualified and therefore capable of carrying out a bridge watch unsupervised.

Unfortunately my lad informs me their can be a world of difference in the weight said certificates hold and that very much depends on the country of issue regarding level of knowledge, competency and expertise required to pass the examinations.

I'll not post a league table for fear of being accused of bias but it is surprising too see the table toppers and especially those near the bottom.

Understandable. I guess that up until now the good quality of their vessels has hidden some of the more questionable actions of their officers.
Still, even a nub should surely know that if he pulls a turn like that, even if the cargo doesn't destabilise and cause the vessel to go past its 5 degree safety zone, the passengers are going to notice the lean and the sharp turn and questions are going to be asked.
Then again, I'm looking at it from a western point of view, so maybe there was an unknown factor involved. I would have thought if there was a collision hazard then someone would have said so by now, so the only explaination really is the Junior officer either wanting to show off to someone on board (maybe he wanted to give the students a bit of a thrill) or just seeing what it did.

Like the early days of the Costa Concordia, so many questions, not many answers.