Princess Cruises Allows 2 Castaways to Die! - ESL Article

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 Today's article is on a story from last year on Princess Cruises. Students can be encouraged to research what has happened since then, for homework.

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Princess Cruises Allows 2 Castaways to Die!

Have you ever heard of Princess Cruises? They are a large and famous cruise ship company. Princess Cruises is famous because their boat was used for the film series The Love Boat. A Princess ship holds more than 2500 passengers. Princess Cruises is a big deal! This is why the following story about Princess Cruises is so disturbing! 

According to BBC reports last year, Princess Cruises allowed two castaways to die at sea. A castaway is a person who is out at sea and cannot return to land.  There are many castaways at sea every year.  Not all castaways survive!  Because sea water is salty, many castaways die of thirst, even though they are surrounded by water!

According to BBC news, 2 passengers saw 3 castaways out at sea near Rio Hato in Panama. These 3 castaways were on their fishing boat.  The motor of the boat stopped working.  There was no way to fix the motor.

After 16 days, a Princess ship sailed by. Two passengers on the Princess saw the castaways.  One of them was Judy Meredith.  Judy told a staff member what she saw.  The staff member told her they would take care of the problem. 

Sadly, the staff on Princess did nothing to save these 3 castaways!  As a result, 2 of the passengers died.  Adrian Vasquez was the only one who survived. Adrian is suing Princess Cruises for passing the castaways.  He says that it was it was the fault of Princess Cruise that his 2 friends died.  

Princess Cruises says they did not do anything wrong.  They say it is not their fault that Adrian Vasquez's two friends died out out at sea. Princess also reminded people that they rescued more than 30 castaways last year.  For sure, Princess Cruises will fight to protect its image.

Do you think that Princess must pay money to Adrian Vasquez for their mistake?  Imagine that you are on the road driving your car.  You see someone in danger, and you do not help them.  Can they sue you? 

The fact is this: It is the law of the sea that you must help any boat in distress. If you see someone in trouble on a boat, you must help them.  If you do not, you could be in trouble. The law for seas is different than land.

QUESTIONS

1.   Which film made Princess Cruises famous?

2.   What is a castaway?

3.   What happened to these two castaways?

4.   Why is Adrian Vasquez suing Princess Cruises?

5.   How many people did Princess Cruises save last year?

6. What does it mean to protect one's image?

7. What could happen if you break the law of the sea?

ACTIVITIES

·       Do some research. Find out whether or not Adrian Vasquez won his lawsuit.

·       It is the law that people who are stranded at sea must be saved. Why do you think this is so?

·       Imagine you are Adrian Vasquez and you wrote a journal while at sea. Write a journal entry telling what happened and how you felt.

·       Princess Cruises has helped save many castaways. What do you think happened this time?

·       THINK & WRITE  Should the law be the same for both land and sea? Explain why you think so.