Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Incredible Stupidity on the High Seas
Late Sunday night, the Coast Guard received a distress call from the captain of a 33-foot boat that was sinking in the Atlantic Ocean, just north of the Boynton Inlet. (That's a bit south of West Palm Beach.) On board with him were four other adults, including one with an injured leg, and four children. The boat had no flares, no satellite tracking system, and no cell phone. So the Coast Guard, in their usual dedicated manner, sent out a rescue team.
There's just one problem: The Coast Guard now believes the call is a hoax.
If the call was a joke, it's not the least bit funny. Obviously the biggest potential danger is that the considerable resources invested in the search might be diverted from a real emergency. Also, while the men and women who protect our shores are well-trained and highly capable, they are still exposed to danger in any rescue operation, especially one conducted with a tropical storm building. I really hope this is a false alarm because I certainly wouldn't want to think of nine people, four of them children, having been trying to survive in the ocean for almost 48 hours. But if it's a fake, let's hope the person responsible is found. In addition to criminal fines up to $250,000 and 5-10 years in prison, the guilty party would be billed for the cost of the search and rescue operation, which I heard today is over $100,000 (the article linked above breaks down the per-hour costs).
There's just one problem: The Coast Guard now believes the call is a hoax.
If the call was a joke, it's not the least bit funny. Obviously the biggest potential danger is that the considerable resources invested in the search might be diverted from a real emergency. Also, while the men and women who protect our shores are well-trained and highly capable, they are still exposed to danger in any rescue operation, especially one conducted with a tropical storm building. I really hope this is a false alarm because I certainly wouldn't want to think of nine people, four of them children, having been trying to survive in the ocean for almost 48 hours. But if it's a fake, let's hope the person responsible is found. In addition to criminal fines up to $250,000 and 5-10 years in prison, the guilty party would be billed for the cost of the search and rescue operation, which I heard today is over $100,000 (the article linked above breaks down the per-hour costs).
