For the past week I have watched specials on television and read articles about the Korean ferry disaster when the Sewol capsized with several hundreds school children aboard.

I have been asked to provide interviews on CNN and radio talk shows.

All of the television and radio interviewers invariably asked about the similarities between the sinking of the Costa Concordia and the current disaster. I have been asked about the cowardly conduct and arrest of both captains, the erroneous information provided to the passengers on both vessels, the failure to deploy and utilize the lifeboats and life-rafts in a timely manner, and the unnecessary loss of life on both ships.

This afternoon CNN aired coverage about both the Sewol and Concordia disasters. 

Today CNN aired Abandon ship? In Recent Maritime Disasters, Captains Don’t Hang Around.

Today the New York Times published Duty and Shame as the Ship Sank.

In both the NYT article and the CNN video today, more time was spent talking about the Costa cruise disaster than the recent ferry mishap.

A survivor of the Concordia appeared on CNN this afternoon (photo below) and talked about her family’s harrowing ordeal of escaping the sinking ship after Captain Schettino abandoned ship. She lamented that there is no international maritime organization with any real authority to require greater responsibility of the maritime companies which transport passengers.

The images of helicopters hovering over the stricken Korean ship and grieving families ashore appear indistinguishable from the Concordia disaster over two years ago.

The cruise industry has taken a beating in the last few years. More Concordia-like cowardly captains, dead passengers and dramatic news anchors on TV are not the type of images that sell cruise vacations.