The Singapore Forum

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16239691

This is bad, reports say the fatalities are mainly women and children with many more to come. Bugger.

Daff, just read an update of this on the Beeb - bloody awful. What with this and drowned asylum seekers...

Yes, another tragedy - I read between 200 - 400 were on that boat, with less than 50 rescued thus far

I have sympathy for those in the Philippines who have lost loved ones and homes during the recent floods. Let's hope the amount of death and destruction by these methods is minimised by improved housing, drainage etc, along with similar incidents over the last few months in Thailand, Laos, Burma, Vietnam and Cambodia.

As for the illegal immigrants, I have zero sympathy for. They were trying to do something illegal and did not undertake proper precautions. Not that I wish death upon them, but I'm fed up with illegal immigration. Hopefully (but unlikely) this will reduce the trafficking.

And I hope the boat owners get severe reprimands including long prison sentences and large enough fines to make them stop doing it again.

It won't stop them though Bob, that's the problem. It's the second such tragedy in a short space of time.

I understand the "why should I spend years and many dollars going the legal migration route" mentality - I've done that myself although thankfully sponsored and very easily. I just have to think that, if people get on these boats knowing how risky it is, they probably have a good reason for doing so. They pay a lot of money to traffickers and, you're right, they are the ones that need to be stopped. But you put some in prison, and more will appear. Like drug-dealing, it's so lucrative there will always be people doing it. And, like drug-dealing, the top dogs are untouchable.

From what I've read, the crew took all the safety equipment and left the rest of them to it. Human nature, maybe, but not what the captains in movies do, is it?

(Yes, bleeding heart liberal and proud of it.)

Sorry Daff, totally hijacked your thread. Haven't caught up with the news for a few hours but will soon.

Death toll now at 1000, bodies coming to the surface of the water although more are buried under the mudslides. The number still missing is only being estimated as many people are not registered in the slum areas after migrating from other parts of the country.

Sounds like the area was totally unprepared given the rarity of flooding in Mindanao, very little warning and slow reesponse from authorities. Now the concern is of water borne diseases given the high number of people crowded into unsanitory refugee centres plus, of course, the corpses that are still not interred.

An ugly situation for sure.

Have been following this on the news broadcasts it is simply awful.

Over 1500 confirmed dead, many more missing still buried in the mud in some of the more remote villages. Some of the images being shown on the news here are just awful, entire villages having lost the majority of their children in the floods.

Going to take a long time to get the displaced back to some version of normality.

this is just so sad.