In maritime tradition, the captain of a ship is responsible for the well-being of the passengers and the safety of the vessel. During disasters, the lives of passengers and the safety of the ship come first. On such occasions, the captain has to make every possible effort to save lives on board as well as the vessel, even at the expense of personal safety. Leaving the ship on such occasions is unethical.The idiom—the captain goes down with the ship—sums up this tradition. The critically acclaimed movie Titanic shows the going down of the captain, his crew and the band of resident musicians with the ship after it hit an iceberg on its historic journey to New York from Glasgow. Mayhem ensued on board the vessel, thought unsinkable at the time of its making, with passengers fighting for their own lives and the lives of their near and dear ones. The captain and his crew remained calm and composed throughout, doing their bit to save lives, without caring for their personal safety. In keeping with the glorious tradition, they went down with the ship.
In 2012, Francesco Schettino, the commander of the Costa Concordia, abandoned the sinking ship off the Italian coast close to Giglio Island while passengers and crew were still on board. An Italian court later convicted him of manslaughter deaths of 32 people in the cruise-liner's capsizing and sentenced him to some 16 years in prison, blaming him for causing the shipwreck and for doing what sea captains should never do: abandon ship while passengers and crew are still on board.
The captain got 10 years for the deaths of 32 passengers and crew members; five years for causing the shipwreck when he steered too close to the island, smashing into a rocky reef; one year for abandoning the vessel with hundreds of people on board; and one month for giving false information to maritime authorities about the gravity of the ship's collision, which, according to prosecutors, delayed the arrival of help.
The rule applicable for sea captains applies to land and air transport, too. However, this rule is known for its breach rather than its adherence these days.
In Nepal, known for rugged terrain where roads look like thin lifelines between rocky mountains and raging rivers, many of those behind the wheel find it very hard to stick to professional ethics and jump out the window to save their dear lives in case of accidents.
In case of land transport, many drivers in Nepal choose to jump to safety, especially when their buses are about to plunge into rivers, instead of trying to save passengers by following the rule that gives dignity to their profession. The buses are no big deal, for divers can take them out of the river using mechanical equipment. After minor maintenance, they can again hit the road, bringing owners fast money at the expense of passengers' safety.
Flying in Nepal is perilous, even for skilled pilots. Bird hits are common in mountainous districts. Soaring mountains and STOL runways make every takeoff and every touchdown quite adventurous. In many airports, if the plane overshoots, chances of those on board surviving are slim. If you survive, you get to cherish the beauties of this country: its snaking rivers and turquoise lakes, soaring Himalayan ranges, lush-green forests, deep gorges and many more spectacles that leave you spellbound. If you don't, that is nothing unusual for a country where air disasters are not that rare. In fact, air disasters are rare nowhere in the world these days.
But in this country, there still are captains, who choose glory in life and glory in death, instead of choosing to lead an inglorious life by surviving at the expense of passengers on board.
A few weeks ago, two young pilots of a Kasthamandap Airlines plane, bound for Jumla from Nepalgunj, chose safety of passengers over their own lives when the bird's single engine failed.
When a ship is sinking, rats jump out of the vessel and into the water in a desperate bid to save their lives! But when struck with a disaster, a proud captain chooses to go down with the vessel after doing every bit to save passengers on board.
At a time when there's a severe dearth of contemporary heroes in this country, here's hoping that Pilot Dinesh Neupane and Co-pilot Santosh Rana, who laid their lives in Chilkhaya VDC-2, Kalikot, and managed to save passengers' lives, will inspire us to choose glory in life and glory in death, instead of jumping into a watery grave in the face of adversities in a desperate bid to save our dear lives.
The author is a Kathmandu based journalist
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