Deadly boat accident in Slovenia when two large canoes decided to run over a dam under construction near Sevnica, a town some 50 miles south of the capital city Ljubljana. The accident spot in the dam, which is part of a hydroelectric station, the height of the dam matches the water level.
The local officials organized a canoe trip, calling it “The final descent”, as a last trip down the dam after which the river was to be blocked for hydroelectric purposes. Passengers were all Slovenians.
Divers pulled six bodies out of the Sava River and fought strong currents to search for other missing five. Three people managed to swim ashore after the accident but two of them subsequently died in the hospital.This gives you an idea of how badly they must have been injured during the accident.
None of the victims wore life vests.
One of deads included the mayor of the city as well.
This situation sounds like eager public officials out to get photo-ops but none of them followed the standard security procedures. In many countries around the world, when influential public officials flout the rules, in this case not wearing life jackets, the security officials are not too keen to correct the situation as well, fearing for their jobs.
A tragedy that could have been easily avoided.
You can watch the ABC video news feed of this incident from here.
July 5th, 2008 at 11:07 am
A small note - when I click on the ABC news video, my browser get shaken and stirred. Although the link is verified and genuine, I guess it could have something to do with my browser, FF3.
July 5th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Do we have a Darwin Award winner here?
July 5th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Wer talking about 14 people kiled here Steve Pardee !! Show some respect !
R.I.P.
July 5th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Fresh of the boat -
Slovenian, while its a tragic incident, these canoe riders were asking for it. What made them go down the river with a half constructed dam and an inner tunnel with turbines without their life jackets? If thats not stupidity, what is.
July 5th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Obviously it was stupid of these people not to wear life jackets, but really, life jackets are not designed to prevent you from being sucked into a turbine. Emphasizing the lack of life jackets is like reporting about a cyclist who was run over by a Mack truck and then saying, “He wasn’t wearing a helmet.” Which, of course, happens fairly often.
Now, deciding to canoe through a dam in the first place? No comment.
July 5th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Katie, wearing life jacket may or may not have saved their lives but at least it would have shown that they tried to take precaution. Not wearing one shows lackadaisical behavior and irresponsibility on their part.
July 14th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Tough tragedy…difficult to comprehend.