Cheeki Rifiki

Here, here.

I can't help but wonder why such a comparison is made to the differing responses of grief with these two tragedies.

I think you're being rather harsh on the plane families.

Their relatives vanished literally off the radar and the Malaysian authorities have yet to come up with an explanation. Don't know if I'd be very dignified in such a situation.

Cultural differences in how people deal with emotional situations. In English culture the stiff upper lip is still, obviously, valued as a good way to behave.

You wouldn't see much of a stiff upper lip if my relatives had disappeared on a plane like that. Those families need answers and have been treated terribly, shunted around en masse and moved out of their hotel, dispersed to make them less vocal, confronted with differing explanations, whereas the British families have been able to express their grief more privately and they know what has happened to the boat.

I hope the families raise some sort of fund or gift for the US coastguard who went beyond the call of duty looking for them. I've always felt that there should be compulsory insurance for those who sail climb etc and then expect others to rescue them.

I think the difference between the Cheeki Rifiki and flight MH 370 is that the crew of the yacht will have known that, however competent and invincible they felt, sailing in those seas would always be inherently risky. Passengers on a commercial airline, on the other hand, would be expecting to arrive safely at their destination.
For the crew of a transatlantic yacht to drown is shocking and tragic, but something we know might happen. For a commercial flight to vanish into thin air is shocking, tragic and incomprehensible.With so little support you can understand the families histrionics.

I admit I find it strange the way some cultures show their grief in such strong and public displays of sorrow. But there's a certain sharing and admittance of grief which may help with the grieving process.

In this country you are expected to keep more of a stiff upper lip and to 'get over' it as quickly as possible.

Can I just say that reading my post back it does seem as though I was having a go at the relatives of the missing passengers on flight MH370 and using the word 'histrionics' was a bad choice of word to use. That was not my intention.

I had intended to to post with the best of intentions praising the dignity of the families involved in the Cheeki Rifiki accident and hoping their loved ones could be found and returned for burial if they were 'possibly' still with the yacht.

I accept what has been said, so 'I apologise' if my post has been misconstrued and hopefully the crux of the post can concern the grieving families of this lost on the Cheeki Rifiki. If not at least I tried.

I agree with your post, Deeda, and I really don't think the responses of the families concerned should be compared or questioned.

(Posted before your post came up, POGS)

Anna

No problem I fully understand why people have posted as they have.

It's just frustrating that the focus has been taken off the loss of life of the Cheeki Rifiki crew and their families.

I can only apologise I'm afraid.

POGS don't apologise, I'm sure most of us understood what you meant. It must be a very sad and frustrating time for all the families involved.

Ana

Thank you.

Many of the relatives waiting for news of the MH370 were equally dignified, but the media didn't notice them, only focusing on those in extreme distress. But it was them that got the publicity needed to continue the search. Personally I'd heard nothing of the yacht being lost until it was mentioned briefly on the news that the search had been called off after only two days. No fuss - no media attention. At least now the boat has been found they know there's no hope. It must have been agony for them not knowing.

Graceful apology pogs

pogs