Miss Kolka

So you're thinking, yet another blog about this supposed plane crash in the Atlantic. Yes, and the numbers ring in my head: 228 passangers, last spoken to at 3:33 local time, 12 members of the crew on board, Flight AF 477, 32 nationalities represented on board. It sure sounds fantastic for a movie. Like 9.11 did.

Why is it that so many people are touched by this story and not when similar crashes (ok normally not cross-atlantic airbus carriers though) happen in Africa, India or South America?

I heard a plausible theory this morning, that it is the mystery that makes this story so big. The reason why every media is going with it and is even exploiting the tragedy is that nobody knows what really happened, authorities are lost and for the moment no debry has been found (although they might have found a tiny little piece just this last hour, that still remaines to be identified as part of the aircraft). People love to wonder what happened, was it an electric failure, a lightning or a bomb on board? Some might even consider some more mystic reasons of extra terrestrial activity but they probably have watched too many x-files. The whole point is that we just dont know. Authorities were very quick to say this was not terrorism though, which is fine, but why did it take so long to actually report this plane missing? Apparently when a plane does not show on radar there can be many hours before aviation authorities consider that something is wrong. In scenarios where people might survive the crash into the water, nobody comes looking for them until much much later anyway, which can only be worrying.  

If we would have known the reasons for the disappearence and where the plane (or the rest of it) actually is, would it still be the number one headline in the world's media? I am like the others though, I want to know. So I have turned on the news quite alot these last 24 hours and, like so many, I identify with the victims (which is also what a good disaster movie makes you do in the cinema). My dad's wife was on that exact flight two weeks ago. It could have happened in my family. There was even 1 Icelandic person on board. Out of less that 400.000 people in the world. This has such an international dimension to it. If it had been a terror attack, it would have been right on target. It gets people's attention and makes them scared. However, it doesn't mean we'll stop flying.  Not less than after 2001. Life goes on.