00:00The Costa Concordia disaster is a tragedy that took dozens of lives, yet went down as completely avoidable and should have never happened.
00:21The disaster was caused by the captain going off course, and it wasn't to dodge an iceberg or fix an engine issue.
00:28He wanted to pull a flashy stunt called a sail-by salute.
00:33That's when a massive cruise ship sails way too close to shore so people on land can wave.
00:39Unfortunately, it became the most catastrophic eye in history, claiming 32 lives.
00:46It was 2012. Over 4,000 people boarded the Costa Concordia for a chill seven-day Mediterranean cruise.
00:53But Captain Francesco Scatino wasn't content with just following a safe, boring route.
01:00So, on January 13, after leaving Civitavecchia, Italy, he stared toward Giulio Island to pull off his grand salute.
01:09Did he have authorization? Nope.
01:11So he ordered the crew to change course.
01:13And it went something like, listen guys, let's head this way.
01:17But the helmsman heard, that way.
01:20And without a translator handy, the ship took the wrong turn straight into the rocks.
01:26There was a magic show going on when the lights suddenly went out.
01:30At first, people thought it was part of the act.
01:32But then came a horrendous, loud crash.
01:35And everyone started to panic.
01:38The ship rolled onto its side.
01:40And suddenly, it became impossible to access lifeboats.
01:43Some passengers had no choice but to jump into the cold sea and swim for land.
01:49And this wasn't just cold water.
01:51It was hypothermia cold.
01:53The kind that freezes your muscles and shuts down your arms and legs in minutes.
01:58And to make things worse, the ship hadn't even run an emergency drill.
02:02So it was total chaos.
02:05At some point, Captain Scatino abandoned the ship.
02:08Later, he blamed the disaster not on himself, but on the rocks.
02:13Yes, he literally said the rocks weren't marked on his charts.
02:17And that that was the real problem.
02:19After the disaster, cruise lines tightened their safety rules.
02:23So now, every passenger has to do a muster drill before any cruise ship even leaves port.
02:29A little late, but at least they finally figured that one out.
02:33On December 19th, more than 1,500 people perished.
02:38Now, if you thought the Costa Concordia was bad, meet Doña Paz.
02:44This was chaos on a whole new level.
02:46So much so, it holds the world record for the largest maritime disaster ever in terms of lives lost.
02:53And if you're looking for someone to blame, blame the must-see movie the captain chose to watch instead of, you know, steering.
03:05Officially, this passenger ferry could carry about 1,500 people.
03:09But somehow, more than 4,000 ended up on board.
03:13It was basically a human sardine can on water.
03:16There weren't enough beds, so passengers slept in the hallways, on the decks, and sometimes, three or four had to share one bunk.
03:24And to complete the disaster starter pack, rumor has it the ship didn't even have a working radio.
03:30And the life jackets were locked away.
03:33Oh, perfect.
03:35It was December 20th, 1987.
03:38The Doña Paz set off across the Tabla Strait in the Philippines.
03:42For hours, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
03:44Then, at about 10.30 that night, the ferry slammed into an oil tanker, the MT Vector.
03:51The problem is, that Vector was carrying over 1,000 tons of gasoline.
03:56Yep, gasoline.
03:58So, you see where this is going, right?
04:00After the collision, flames quickly spread to both ships and across the water around them.
04:06The captain, meanwhile, was in his bedroom, watching a movie.
04:09And most of the crew was busy partying.
04:11Which means, nobody, with real experience, was even monitoring the ship when it crashed.
04:17So, when chaos broke out, even the crew panicked.
04:21Now, remember that whole women and children first code from Titanic?
04:25Here, it was more like, every man for himself.
04:28There were no orders, no evacuation plan, no leadership.
04:32Passengers were trapped with literally nowhere to run.
04:36Some were forced to jump off the ship, only to land in flaming waters.
04:40Others didn't even have time to react.
04:43Out of more than 4,000 people on board, only 25 survived.
04:48What we learned from this disaster is that, yes, there is a limit to how many people you can fit onto one ship.
04:56Afterward, the Philippine maritime industry finally enforced stricter safety standards,
05:02and got a lot tougher about passenger limits.
05:05So, no, you won't be sharing a bunk with a random stranger if you get on a ship there today.
05:10If the Danya Paz is known as Asia's Titanic, then the MV Le Joula is Africa's version of it.
05:21In 2002, this ferry was supposed to make a trip from Ziegenkor to Dakar.
05:27The Le Joula was designed to carry about 580 passengers.
05:31But on the day of the disaster, it had more than three times that number on board.
05:36So, from the moment it left port, the ship was already leaning to one side.
05:41To escape the hot, overcrowded cabins, many passengers gathered on the upper deck,
05:46where students were chatting, playing cards, or flirting far from their parents' eyes.
05:52But when night fell, those life-is-good vibes disappeared fast.
05:57Dark clouds rolled in, and strong winds started rocking the ferry.
06:00As rain started pounding the Le Joula's deck, hundreds of passengers rushed inside.
06:07Then the ship suddenly tilted hard to the left, and water came pouring in.
06:12The cargo hadn't been tied down properly, so it all slid to one side.
06:17Even a heavy generator broke loose, and suddenly, everything went dark.
06:22Panic spread.
06:23People grabbed onto anything they could.
06:25Railings, ropes, other passengers.
06:28But the ship tipped too far.
06:30Within minutes, the ferry capsized off the coast of Gambia.
06:35Most of the travelers were trapped inside.
06:37Only 64 people survived.
06:40Even after two decades, no one has truly been held accountable.
06:45Some blame bad weather.
06:46But others say it was human error.
06:48And honestly, there were plenty of those.
06:51Too many people on board.
06:53Warnings ignored.
06:54And a painfully slow rescue.
06:56Let's just hope nothing that tragic ever happens again.
07:00The last disaster on our list changed South Korea.
07:10We're talking about the MV Sewol.
07:12It was April 2014.
07:15A ferry carrying 476 people, mostly high school students, was supposed to be a fun trip to Juju Island.
07:22You know, selfies, snacks, Seabreeze.
07:25But instead, 304 people never made it home.
07:30Those who did survive were mostly rescued by random fishing boats and commercial ships nearby.
07:34Because the official rescue team took about 30 minutes to show up.
07:39That's right, 30 minutes.
07:42And that delay was just one piece of a much bigger mess.
07:46This was a completely preventable disaster from the start.
07:50The trip started out fine.
07:52Then, around 8.48 in the morning, the seawall made a sharp turn and suddenly started tilting.
07:58But how sharp does a turn have to be to tip a massive ship like that?
08:03I mean, it's not a kayak.
08:05So clearly, something was already off.
08:08Turns out the seawall had been modified, like a DIY job gone wrong.
08:14The owners wanted more room for cargo and passengers.
08:17So they rebuilt the upper decks and boosted its capacity by over 100 people.
08:22Oh, and on that day, the cargo wasn't even properly tied down.
08:27So yeah, it was a disaster waiting to happen.
08:31When the ship tilted, all that extra cargo slid to one side, making it lean even more.
08:40Water rushed in, flooding passenger compartments.
08:43The ferry started sinking within minutes.
08:46The passengers panicked.
08:48But then, they heard the instructions over the intercom.
08:50Everyone, stay where you are.
08:53Don't move.
08:54It's safer in your cabins.
08:56Well, it wasn't.
08:58While hundreds of students followed orders and waited for help, the captain and several
09:02crew members escaped.
09:04Yeah, they got off the ship while teenagers were still trapped inside.
09:09When rescue teams finally arrived, it was too late for most.
09:14The seawall disaster shocked an entire nation.
09:18But it also brought people together.
09:19It sparked new laws, better training, and a promise that no ship would ever sail that recklessly
09:26again.
09:30That's it for today.
09:31So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your
09:35friends.
09:36Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the bright side.
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