Bad Collision and Loss of Life

Could this tragedy have been avoided? ...time and a thorough investigation may tell... ____________________________ Fourteen sailors presumed dead after fishing trawler, Brazilian ship collide 06:36 PM EDT May 09 JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) - Fourteen sailors aboard a South African trawler were missing and presumed drowned after a collision with a Brazilian ship off the South African coast, officials said Monday. Two men aboard the trawler were rescued, but the rest of the 16-member crew are thought to have gone down with the trawler when it sank within seconds of the collision before dawn on Sunday. National Sea Rescue Institute spokesman Craig Lambinon told the South African Press Association that a massive air and sea search has been called off. "Everything that could be done, has been done," he said. Peter Becker, the manager of the Viking Inshore Fishing Co., which owned the trawler, said three members of one family were among the missing sailors. "It is very tragic," he told SAPA. Authorities said all vessels in the region scrambled to begin an immediate search and rescue effort. The Ouro do Brasil, the ship that collided with the trawler, rescued crewman Johan Ehlers, who had been swept off the deck during the collision. Paul Landers, the captain of the trawler, was rescued by the crew of the trawler's sister ship. An investigation into the cause of the collision has begun, authorities said.