Macedonia boat accident – a tragic reminder of our ageing world

September 6, 2009 | By Kim Walker

The tourism business and governments need to wake up to the changing needs of an ageing world before more die through poor safety standards that recognize their evolving needs.

In the lastest tragedy on Saturday, 15 mainly elderly Bulgarians drowned when a tourist boat sank suddenly in Macedonia’s popular Lake Ohrid as reported here.

Echoes of a similar disaster on Lake George, New York State in October 2005, when a tour boat carrying a group of senior citizens capsized and sank killing 20 elderly passengers. Enquiries after that incident indicated that the older, and some obese people, were simply not nimble enough to escape the fast-sinking vessel in time. None were wearing life vests.

More recently, in July this year, a Japanese tour organizer was arrested on suspicion of negligence after eight senior citizens died of apparent hypothermia in cold, wet weather during a climbing tour of Japan’s northern mountains.

When the business world fails to wake up to the opportunities and needs of the ageing societies, that’s silly. But when business and governments fail to consider the health, welfare and safety of their ageing citizens, that’s a crime!