Re: BBC reports Kenya fiber break

[Greg Ihnen <os10rules () gmail com>]

On Feb 28, 2012, at 10:53 AM, Mike Andrews wrote:

> On Mon, Feb 27, 2012 at 10:20:10AM -0800, virendra rode wrote:
> > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> > Hash: SHA256
> >
> > On 02/27/2012 08:11 AM, Marshall Eubanks wrote:
> > > Is anyone seeing this ?
> > >
> > > http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17179544
> > >
> > > "East Africa's high-speed internet access has been severely disrupted
> > > after a ship dropped its anchor onto fibre-optic cables off Kenya's
> > > coast."
>
> The ship was reported to have dropped anchor while in a restricted or
> prohibited area. These areas are _EXTREMELY_ well marked on charts. I can't
> see it being anything other than human or mechanical error: not checking if
> the ship is in a no-anchorage area, or the anchor chain wildcat brake _and_
> the anchor chain blocking device fail simultaneously, or watch officer
> totally mistakes the ship's location and orders the anchor to be let go.
>
> -- 
> Mike Andrews, W5EGO
> mikea () mikea ath cx
> Tired old sysadmin 

One more option:  engine or steering failure making dropping the hook an urgent necessity. What are the chances you'd 
hit a fiber-optic cable. ; - )

Greg