Paddle Boarders Could Face Charges For Trespassing Around UXO
Kent, United Kingdom Law enforcement officials are conducting an investigation of two recreational paddle boarders who trespassed around the remains a sunken WWII ship containing 1,400 tons of live ordnance. The two include 36 year old Shane Skinner and friend Ricky Wooding who were reportedly paddle boarding in the Thames Estuary when they decided to ignore warning signs and buoys around the remains of SS Richard Montgomery. Skinner even took the time pose for photos where he is seen touching one of the ship's masts protruding from the sea.
Buoys and signs are placed around the shipwreck to clearly mark the 'prohibited area' established under section 2 of the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973. The SS Montgomery, a U.S. WWII era cargo ship carrying approximately 7,000 tons of ordnance, was on its way to France during WWII after it grounded on a sandbar. Initial efforts to unload the ship after the grounding were abandoned after the hull cracked sinking the ship with nearly 1,400 tons of ammunition still on-board.
Three masts from the ship can be seen above the water line have become somewhat of a tourist attraction where boaters often stop to capture photos and observe from a safe distance away. Photos from the two paddler boarders trespassing were posted on social media promoting the investigation from police into possible trespassing charges for the two.
The wreck is safe to clear but not to leave beginning to break up becoming more dangerous every day.
Could this be the reason nobody has done anything about it. Only a matter of time.
The normalcy bias, or normality bias, refers to a mental state people enter when facing a disaster. It causes people to underestimate both the possibility of a disaster occurring and its possible effects. This may result in situations where people fail to adequately prepare for a disaster, and on a larger scale, the failure of governments to include the populace in its disaster preparations.
The assumption that is made in the case of the normalcy bias is that since a disaster never has occurred then it never will occur. It can result in the inability of people to cope with a disaster once it occurs. People with a normalcy bias have difficulties reacting to something they have not experienced before. People also tend to interpret warnings in the most optimistic way possible, seizing on any ambiguities to infer a less serious situation.