There is a very interesting chapter in the book 'Deep survival' by Laurence gonzales. The chapter is called 'the anatomy of an accident' or something like that. (the whole book is excellent and one of my all time favourites if anyone hasn't read it, it's a good one)
One of the things mentioned in the chapter is that often people spend so long planning a trip and telling their friends at work and packing and generally looking forward to the trip and spending money to get there etc, etc that even if all the signs are wrong and weather deteriorates badly etc, people go ahead with the trip regardless because they've been planning , looking forward to it so much. It often ends in tradgedy under these circumstances. And instead of admitting they're unlucky with the weather and it's pants but it's not going to happen this time, We'll come again another time when the weather will hopefully be better...........They go ahead anyway because it's been so much planned and looked forward to and things can start to go wrong. Sometimes it's best to admit everythings going against you and to call it a day, and re-plan the trip for another time. It's a hard decision to make when you've travelled to another country to do something you may have spent a lot of time planning and spent a lot of money on...........But making that decision may just save your life.
Everybody dies at some stage................but it's not going to be today.
Sometimes even the guides and instructors are under pressure to deliver the goods. People have paid money and travelled to get there and expect to go on the white water rafting trip thay've forked out for. It takes a brave guide to tell his punters that the trips off because the water is too high and running too fast and it's dangerous in his opinion. Especiallly when others are whizzing by having a good time. Later they find out there's been a tradgedy down river. OR there hasn't been an accident and back at the hotel the other group tell the first group what a great time they had, and the guide who decided the conditions were too bad looks like he's pants in the eyes of his punters because he made what he thought was the right decision at the time, and it turns out the other group had the ride of their lives. It's a tough call and mistakes get made.
I'm not in any way judging the foks in the the recent incident I wasn't there, nor where any of us. Maybe they really believed they were well equipped and knowledgeable enough to cope with the conditions and maybe they were under stress to go ahead anyway as they'd paid money to get there and were jolly well looking forward to it and were going to do it no matter what. Whatever happened they made their decision and went ahead. And who can say they wouldn't have maybe done the same.
I have the utmost sympathy for their families.
